Darling You're Mean
by Newt27
Summary: She was the only human he'd never wanted to kill. He was the only man who'd ever seen past her disease. So what if she's going to die and he's a vampire? Jasper/OC. Please give it a chance. Rated T for language and some mature themes
1. Chapter 1

She was the only human he ever didn't want to kill. He was the only man who'd ever seen past her disease. So what if she's going to die and he's a vampire?

**This is my first Twilight fanfiction so please be nice! I made Kyleigh up, obviously I own nothing else. Some of my medical info may be inaccurate, but I tried my best. So enjoy! **

Jasper Hale had issues. Jasper Hale had a lot of issues. But Jasper Hale had the most issues with ER nurses. He and his brother Emmet had been sitting off to the side of the emergency room for the last twenty minutes, waiting for Carlisle to come talk to them. Jasper understood that they were busy people with stressful jobs, but honestly? It wasn't even that crowded today and they were still blatantly ignoring some patients.

"That one's hot," Emmet muttered quietly to him, subtly gesturing across the room to a busty brunette leaning back in her chair.

"She has a boyfriend," Jasper replied just as quietly.

"What? Where?" Emmet not so subtly looked around.

"Big guy standing at the counter with the black eye."

"Damn…Can you read minds now, too?" Emmet seemed impressed.

Jasper just shook his head and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, "What do you think is taking him so long?"

"He's probably saving someone or something. I mean, that's what doctors typically do. Especially in hospitals."

A young nurse paused in front of them and, as usual, took a few seconds to take in their beauty before getting a grip on herself, "Boys, your father said to give him another 5 minutes or so, okay?" Then without waiting for a response, moved on.

"Well, that was definitive." Emmet commented sarcastically, "This whole thing was a lot easier when Ali-" He broke off abruptly at Jasper's murderous expression, "Just saying…" He mumbled.

Jasper shook his head again, and cradled his head in his hands. Of course. Everything was easier when Alice was around. But she wasn't, not anymore, and he needed people to stop bringing it up. He and Emmet sat in silence for a few minutes. Jasper was about to suggest that they leave and come back later when he felt her come into the room. His head snapped up and his eyes locked on her.

Emmet felt him tense next to him, "What's up, man?" He followed Jasper's line of vision, his eyes sweeping the room, "What are you looking at?"

Jasper could smell her, but not in the normal way he smelled a human. She smelled sweet, but there was something different about the sweetness, something that drew him to her like a magnet. Yet…there was no overwhelming urge to kill her. No. There was a desire, but it wasn't for blood. He couldn't figure out what he was feeling, but he knew exactly how she felt as she staggered to the nurses' station.

"Please," He heard her gasp, "Please, I need to talk to Carlisle."

Emmet, too, had heard her, "Join the club, sweetheart."

"Dr. Cullen is busy and will see you when he's available." The nurse responded, not even looking up.

Jasper watched as the girl groaned and turned away, stumbling slightly as she moved to the other side of the room. A triage nurse approached her, asking her questions too quickly and quietly for Jasper to hear. Whatever the girl had said didn't seem to affect the nurse, who turned away from her to move onto her next victim. _Oops, patient._ Jasper thought to himself and smirked.

"What the hell are you looking at?" Emmet asked again, still searching the room.

"Over there." Jasper murmured, nodding slightly with his chin.

Emmet eyed the girl, "Really? Her?"

"What do you mean 'really?'"

"I mean out of all the other girls in this room, you pick the one who looks like she got hit by a truck."

"Correction: She," Jasper gestured towards a girl with a cast on her arm, covered in bruises, clutching a bloody cloth to her lip, "Looks like she got hit by a truck. She," He looked over at the girl again, "Looks…like she's going to pass out." Jasper was at his feet and across the room in an instant, catching the girl before she hit the floor.

Emmet groaned and rushed after him, "Way to seem like a normal person." He hissed to Jasper.

"No one has ever thought of us as 'normal.'" Jasper muttered back, cradling her in his lap. He vaguely heard the scuffling of nurses rushing around and a page going out for Carlisle. The young woman from before was kneeling down across from him and Jasper stiffened up at the close proximity to a human…then remembered that he was holding a human already so it shouldn't bother him. But it did.

Thankfully, Carlisle chose that moment to skid into the room and was at Jasper's side instantly, "Kyleigh? Kyleigh, can you hear me?" Then he looked at Jasper, "What happened?"

And so Jasper explained the staggering and the swaying and the passing out, shooting a few glares at the triage nurse standing by.

"Let's get her up," Carlisle rose. Jasper glanced up at him then got to his feet, bringing Kyleigh with him. A few nurses tittered nearby, but Jasper and Carlisle ignored them. "This way." Carlisle said brusquely. Emmet glanced at Jasper, who shrugged and they rushed to follow Carlisle down the hall and into an empty room. "Put her down, I'm going to get Trudy."

Who Trudy was, they did not know for Carlisle had already disappeared out the door.

"Well." Emmet sighed, sitting down on the chair near the bed, "Thanks a lot, Jasper."

Jasper merely glared at him while he arranged the girl, _Kyleigh_, he corrected himself in his head, on the bed.

Then Carlisle was back with Trudy, a rather plump woman with dark skin, "Apparently she just collapsed." Carlisle was explaining.

Trudy crossed quickly to the bed and began puttering around Kyleigh's unconscious form. Carlisle looked over at Jasper and Emmet, "You were looking for me?"

"It was about Esme's birthday, but…" Emmet trailed off.

"It can wait." Jasper finished, stepping away from the bed so Trudy could work.

Carlisle nodded then turned his attention back to Kyleigh, "We need to get her hooked up to an IV right now. She's dehydrated. She has a fever, but I don't want to give her anything until she wakes up and I can find out what she's taken already. Also, she's going to need a blood," He paused meaningfully, "test." Jasper and Emmet stood up quickly, "Why don't you boys wait outside, she deserves some privacy."

Emmet and Jasper went to the end of the hall to wait, "Dude, we should just leave." Emmet said, glancing around, "We're obviously gonna have to wing this whole birthday thing."

"I want to stay."

"What?" Emmet stared at him incredulously, "Are you kidding me? You hate hospitals!"

"Is there anyone who actually likes a hospital?" Jasper raised his eyebrows, "Besides doctors, I mean."

"No, I mean, you don't like being around people that much." He dropped his voice, "There's a lot of blood around here."

"No shit." Jasper snorted, "I want to stay." He repeated firmly.

"I know you think she's pretty, but…"

"It's not about that!" Jasper snapped, "I think I could be…useful."

"To a human." Emmet clarified.

Jasper rolled his eyes, "Carlisle." He called.

Carlisle poked his head around the corner, "Yes?"

"Is it okay to come back now?" Jasper asked casually.

Carlisle watched him carefully then nodded and Jasper crossed back to the room and ducked inside. Emmet groaned and, like a good brother, followed him. Again.

Kyleigh was hooked up to an IV and a bunch of obnoxious, beeping machines. Her long eyelashes fluttered lightly every time she breathed. Trudy had gone and Carlisle was standing by Kyleigh's side, watching her closely. "Carlisle." Emmet said finally, "What's wrong with her?"

Carlisle sighed heavily then looked at his two "sons." "Kyleigh is HIV positive. She's been very sick for years now and I'm afraid that time is running out…" He sighed again, turning back to the girl.

"So…" Emmet began slowly, "This girl has AIDs?"

"HIV and AIDs aren't the same thing," Jasper replied, "Right?" He looked to Carlisle.

Carlisle nodded, "Exactly."

"But AIDs isn't too far around the corner." Came a new voice causing the three men to jump. Kyleigh had apparently woken up and was eyeing Jasper and Emmet warily.

Carlisle immediately was at her side, "Kyleigh, what happened?"

"I could ask you the same thing." She croaked out, her voice painfully raw, "Last thing I remember is having that bitch tell me to sit down."

Carlisle ignored Kyleigh's insult towards the triage nurse and instead said, "You passed out and Jasper caught you."

"Oh, my God." Kyleigh blushed, "Are you serious? I fainted?"

"Yup." Emmet nodded.

"In front of everyone?"

"Yup." Emmet said again.

"Today just keeps getting better." She shook her head in embarrassment.

"Tell me about today." Carlisle seamlessly steered her back on topic.

"I woke up and I felt sick…not that that's a surprise." For just a second, Jasper swore he saw tears in her eyes, but in the next instant they were gone, "And I kind of, sort of ran out of my pills so…"

"Kind of, sort of ran out when?"

"Um." She fidgeted with her blanket, "Last week?"

Carlisle shut his eyes in frustration, "And you didn't think to call me then?"

"I don't-" She began, but then a coughing fit overtook her frail body. Carlisle stroked her back lightly, clearly unfazed.

Emmet sidled over to Jasper, "Can we leave now?" He asked, his lips barely moving.

Jasper responded with the slightest shake of his head then cautiously went over and sat next to Kyleigh's bed. Carlisle eyed him over her back carefully and they seemed to have a silent conversation, resulting in Carlisle standing up and going to look for Trudy. Jasper reached his hands out and cupped them over the angel bones on her back. Within a minute, Kyleigh's coughs subsided and she slumped back against the pillows again. "Thank you." She murmured.

"For?" Jasper raised his eyebrows.

"I don't know…for making me feel better?" She shrugged, wincing as she swallowed, "I felt like I was gonna die until you touched my back and now I feel…sick."

"I suppose that's an improvement." Jasper drawled wryly.

"In the big scheme of things, yeah it is." She shut her eyes for a minute then they flew open again, "Wait a second, who the hell are you?"

Emmet grinned, "Took you awhile to realize we're strangers."

"So kill me, I was focusing on other things." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm Jasper, he's Emmet." Jasper held out his hand to her, "We're Carlisle's sons."

She stared at it, seemingly frozen.

"Maybe where she's from they don't shake hands." Emmet mock-whispered.

Jasper glared at him, but Kyleigh giggled, "It's not that, I'm just not used to…oh whatever." She shook his hand, "I'm Kyleigh, obviously."

Carlisle and Trudy entered the room again, Trudy bearing a tray of food, a pitcher of water and a packet of pills. Carlisle merely carried a piece of paper. "Girl, you are so dehydrated." Trudy made a tsking noise, eyeing the empty IV bag, "No wonder you passed out." She hooked up a new bag then poured a huge glass of water.

"When was the last time you ate, Kyleigh?" Carlisle asked, examining Kyleigh's bony wrists, "And, for that matter, when was the last time you slept?"

"I dunno." Kyleigh mumbled around the glass then she was currently chugging from.

"You have to do better than that." Trudy glared.

"My throats been too sore to eat," Kyleigh explained, "And then the pain started waking me up so I've taken up knitting."

"Really? Have you moved onto patterns yet? Because-"

"Trudy." Carlisle cut her off, "If it hurt so much, again, why didn't you call me."

Kyleigh stared down at her hands and shrugged, "I didn't want to bother you."

Trudy rolled her eyes, "If you need me, page me. Don't worry about bothering me." Then she swiftly left.

Carlisle sank down onto the seat on the other side of the bed, across from Jasper, "Kyleigh, you never bother me. Ever. And you know that."

Kyleigh began fidgeting with the food on her tray, "I figured it didn't matter anymore."

"Why wouldn't it?" Carlisle asked gently.

"Cause I'm dying, Carlisle." Kyleigh looked him in the eye, her expression hard, "It's over."

Emmet shifted uncomfortably and tried to send brainwaves to Jasper to convince him to leave, but Jasper wasn't moving either, his eyes on Kyleigh.

"It's not. I'll give you a new prescription and we'll try again, it'll all be okay." Carlisle pulled out a pen and began writing. Kyleigh stared at him for a moment then reached over and wrenched the pen out of his hand, hurling it across the room. It went deadly quiet.

"No." Kyleigh whispered, "No more drugs, no more shots, no more anything. I'm done."'

"Kyleigh, you're not dying yet." Carlisle reasoned.

"Please, Carlisle," Kyleigh begged, "Enough. Please." She said again.

"Why?" Jasper asked suddenly. The other three stared at him.

"Jasper." Carlisle said warningly.

"No really, why?" Jasper kept his eyes on Kyleigh, "Why stop the treatment?"

"It's not something I've determined lightly," She replied icily.

"Jasper." Carlisle repeated sharply.

"You're not dead till you're dead." Jasper continued.

Emmet snorted, "That was deep, man."

Jasper ignored him, "Why not keep trying until the end?"

"Because, because, why do you even care?" Kyleigh turned full around to face him.

Jasper took a deep breath then sighed, "I don't."

"You…don't?" Kyleigh repeated.

"Nope." Jasper shook his head, "I don't."

Kyleigh turned to Carlisle, "Your son is psycho."

"Jasper, maybe you should leave." Carlisle suggested quietly.

"No." Kyleigh reached out and grabbed Jasper's arm, "I want to hear what his reasoning is. Why should I continue treatment at this point?" Before Jasper could open his mouth, she continued, "Do you know how long I've been battling this? 7 years. 7 _fucking_ years. I was a _child_ when this happened to me. Do you know what it's like to be abandoned by your family because you're diseased? I don't have friends because no parent wanted their kids to be near me. Do you know what it's like to go to a support meeting and never know who will be there and who will be dead? Do you?" Tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"I've seen a lot of death, ma'am." Jasper leaned towards her, "I've felt a lot of loss."

"You're equating loss to living with a disease that up until the 1990s most people didn't even admit existed?" she threw her head back and laughed, "There are people who still believe that only gays and sinners get AIDs. It didn't mattered how many times I said that it was an accident that I was only 12, it never matter-" Kyleigh broke off, her breath coming in gasps. Jasper reached over and stroked her cheek with a long, cool finger and slowly her breathing returned to normal. She fell back against the pillow again.

"Jasper, I think it's time you and Emmet left." Carlisle and Emmet were both glaring at Jasper now.

Jasper nodded curtly and stood up. "Thank the Lord." Emmet muttered. Jasper leaned down to Kyleigh's ear and whispered so only she could hear, "Don't give up yet, there's another way of life, believe me." Kyleigh jerked her head up, but he was already gone, trailing after Emmet.

"What did he say?" Carlisle asked.

"Just apologizing." Kyleigh answered, leaning against the pillows again.

"Okay, let's get some food in you then." Carlisle perked up, unwrapping the food in front of her.

**Thoughts? Opinions? I promise it will actually get interesting after all of the establishing mumbo jumbo. Please send me feedback so I know what you like or dislike. =0) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for the feedback! I'm just going to say that Jasper will probably be a little different from the books, I've made him more assertive and sure of himself, hope that doesn't bother anyone. Obviously I own nothing, but Kyleigh…and Trudy.**

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Emmet hissed as soon as they'd gotten back to his jeep, "What the hell was that about!"

"She's giving up, it's a damn shame. She shouldn't just surrender."

"Surrender? Surrender? Jasper, you heard her, she's been fighting this for years! Can you blame the kid for being tired of it?" Emmet was flying through the twisting roads, but Jasper didn't even notice.

"I know, I know…" Jasper finally realized how much of a jerk he had just been, "I have no clue what came over me. I just looked at her and…lost it."

"Ya think?" Emmet peeled into their garage and killed the engine, "Carlisle's gonna kill you. You probably just put Kyleigh under so much stress that her heart's gonna give out before she even reaches the final stage." He got out and slammed the door, "And we didn't even get to ask Carlisle what we should do for Esme!" With that, Jasper's larger and more outspoken brother went into the house. Feeling dejected, Jasper slowly got out of the car and followed after Emmet, not looking forward to Carlisle returning home.

Esme was sitting on the couch reading a book as Emmet came in and threw himself down next to her, "Something bothering you?" She asked, not looking up from her book.

"No." He replied firmly.

Esme merely smiled, knowing that he was lying. In her head, she counted down: _3, 2, 1. _

"I don't understand my brothers." Emmet informed her, "What is with them and their infatuation with humans?"

Esme was clearly not expecting this as she set her book down, "Wait a minute, what are you talking about?"

"First, Edward goes gaga over Bella and breaks all the rules and changes her and knocks her up and now Jasper's losing it over some chick with HIV."

"Oh." Esme said finally, "Okay?"

"I just don't get it. They're humans, they're fragile and really pretty stupid."

"Now Emmet, there's no need for name calling." She chastised him like a child.

"You weren't there, Esme, you didn't see it."

"See what, exactly?"

"Jasper like, lost it when he saw her. And he actually went over and touched her then he freaked out on her for telling Carlisle she didn't want to continue treatment."

"And what did Carlisle say?"

"He asked us to leave. I bet he's pissed at Jasper when he gets home."

"Or maybe he'll have more compassion than his supposed loving brother has." Esme pointed out dryly.

"Sure, I guess." Emmet admitted grudgingly.

"Jasper's had a rough time with all that's happened." Esme had dropped her voice slightly, "Can we just be happy that he's actually being social now?"

"Yeah, but it's with a human! Isn't that kind of risky for us?"

"I do admit it's a little strange for Jasper to willingly touch a human, but maybe it's just a sign that he's growing up. I think it'd be best to leave him alone for a little while. Go find Rosalie, maybe she'll have something for you to do to amuse yourself."

Emmet grinned wickedly, "Good plan." He thanked Esme then bounded up the stairs to Rosalie's room. Esme waited until she heard the door click shut, "Jasper, you can come out now." She called.

Jasper poked his head around the corner, "How'd you know I was over here?"

"Lucky guess." She shrugged, "Come sit with me." She patted the pillow beside her.

Jasper obeyed his "mother" and sat down next to her.

"Now, tell me about today."

"Didn't Emmet just do that for you?" Jasper asked.

"Yes, but it was in Emmet speak. I need to hear what happened in Jasper speak."

Jasper pretended like that made sense, "Well, it was pretty much like what Emmet told you. I saw her, I felt her pain, she passed out, we carried her into a room and Carlisle and this random nurse took care of her."

"And then?"

"And then she told Carlisle that she wanted to stop treatment because she'd had enough and I felt this weird pressure inside of me and I kind of attacked her." At Esme's alarmed expression, he quickly added, "Verbally, I mean."

Esme visibly relaxed, "Emmet said that you touched her. That didn't bother you?"

"No," He shook his head slowly, "I mean, don't get me wrong, her blood was tempting me, but there's something about her scent that kept me from wanting to kill her."

"Mhm." Esme furrowed her brow, "And you have no idea what it is?"

"Maybe it's cause of the whole disease pumping through her that's masking the full power of her scent…or maybe I'm just going soft. Who knows."

"Well, I guess the best thing to do is to wait and hear what Carlisle has to say to you." She picked up her book again.

"Assuming he actually speaks to me." Jasper muttered, getting off the couch and disappearing to his room. Esme smiled to herself again and picked up where she'd left off in her story.

_Right now behind my eyes, it's early morning _

Carlisle entered his home hours later, long after most other people had gone to bed. He put all of his stuff down and quietly moved through the house. He could hear Rosalie giggling and guessed that she and Emmet were probably goofing off together; Emmet was the only person who could truly make Rose laugh. He made his way up the stairs and paused where Esme was arranging a new vase of flowers on one of the landings, "Hey sweetheart," He murmured, reaching out and turning her around so he could kiss her.

"Hi." She smiled into the kiss, "How was your day?"

Carlisle linked arms with her and they continued up the stairs, "Pretty much the same as always."

Esme pulled Carlisle aside, "You aren't going to yell at Jasper, are you?"

"Aha, I knew they would tell you." Carlisle smiled, "And no, I don't yell, dear."

"Well, you know what I mean." Esme couldn't help but laugh at the idea of Carlisle yelling at someone.

"Just let me handle it, alright." He kissed her forehead, "Where is he?"

"His room, of course."

Carlisle nodded and went off to find his son while Esme hummed to herself and went back down the stairs. Carlisle paused outside of his newest son's room then knocked 3 times. He heard a muffled "come in" and opened the door, "Jasper, can I talk to you?"

Jasper eyed him warily then nodded once, putting down the notebook he'd been writing in.

"What you did today…" Carlisle sighed then started again, "I know it seems…" He shook his head, "Look, it can be difficult to be with someone who is going to die. And it's even worse when they've accepted it and begin to let go, but it's their decision. Kyleigh has been through a lot, she's spent a good chunk of her life sick and in hospitals and if she's ready to be done, then I'm not going to stop her."

"But you can stop her." Jasper had listened carefully, but was now leaning forward, eyeing him intently, "You can fix it."

"Jasper, there's no cure for-"

"That's not what I mean!" He snapped, getting up and pacing, "You can _change_ things, if you really wanted to."

"You mean…change her into one of us?" Carlisle stared at him, "Why would I do that?"

"Because she deserves a new life that she can actually live in."

"And you think that turning her into a vampire is going to make everything better?"

"It will give her a chance to do things over."

"She knows nothing about our world, what makes you think she'd want to join it?"

"I don't know!" Jasper groaned in frustration, "I just, I feel like this is what needs to be done."

"Son, what has gotten into you?" Carlisle got up and put his hand on Jasper's shoulder, "Since when do you care about a human?"

"She's not just a human." Jasper responded quietly, "She's…different."

"You don't even know her."

"Call it vampire's intuition." Jasper drawled, smirking slightly.

"I can't just change her, Jasper."

"Why not? You changed Esme and Edward. They were both dying too."

"Kyleigh's not dying."

"Yes she is, maybe not actively, but pretty soon it'll all be over and then it will be too late."

"There could be risks."

"I did some research this afternoon. I took notes." He moved swiftly around Carlisle to brandish the notebook at him, "It's a blood thing. You don't have any blood pumping in you to be infected."

"It's not myself that I'm worried about." Carlisle took the notebook and flipped through it, "I don't know how it will affect her. If it will even work."

"Think about it though: if it doesn't work out and she dies, then at least we tried. Isn't it better to try than to not try at all?"

Carlisle stared into his sons golden eyes then nodded, "We can give her the option, but I won't make any promises about her decision…for some reason, I feel like even if someone is about to die, learning that there are vampires in this world will be just as difficult to believe."

_I'm trying to get you, but you don't understand_

After that wing nut Jasper had left, Kyleigh had been force fed by Carlisle then told to go to sleep. Which was easier said than done since every time she managed to drift off, she'd have crazy dreams involving Carlisle waltzing with a werewolf and Jasper following her around, his eyes blood red. Her last dream had her jolting up right, a scream already releasing itself from her throat. Trudy came flying into the room and skidded to a halt by her side, "What is it? What's wrong?"

Kyleigh took a few deep breaths and shoved her sweaty hair away from her face, "N-nothing. Spider."

"You screamed because of a spider…?" Trudy repeated slowly.

Kyleigh merely nodded, not trusting her voice.

"Oh for God's sake." Trudy muttered irately, "I thought someone was trying to slit your throat!" She glared then turned on one heel to go get Kyleigh her breakfast tray.

Kyleigh shuddered and rolled onto her side, knowing that she'd never get the image of Jasper crouching over her body, teeth barred, about to bite her neck, out of her mind.

A few hours later, Carlisle came into her room, looking his usual calm and upbeat self, "Hello Kyleigh. How are you feeling today?"

"Decent. Better than yesterday."

"Yes, I think the whole eating thing probably helped." Carlisle said shrewdly.

Kyleigh just shrugged, "It could just be a coincidence."

Carlisle smiled at her, "So untrusting of science."

"I can't remember which side of the brain is artistic, but that's the side I dwell in."

"That would be the right side, little one."

"I had a 50-50 chance of getting it right, but I thought it would be best to test your knowledge."

Carlisle just shook his head and laughed, "Trudy tells me that you were screaming this morning. What was up with that?"

"There was a spider on the wall." Kyleigh lied, not exactly wanting to say that she'd had a nightmare about his son trying to suck her blood.

"And I should believe you, why?"

"Because I am dying and it is my last wish that you believe me."

"If I were you, I'd make my last wish something more exciting."

"Well, I was gonna ask for Johnny Depp, but I don't think he's available at the moment."

"Kyleigh, stop changing the subject. What happened this morning?"

"I just had a bad dream okay!" Kyleigh crossed her arms.

"Alright, alright," He held his hands up in a surrender gesture, "I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something else."

"What else could it have been?"

"Aliens." He replied very seriously, "We seem to be having a problem with them around here."

Kyleigh began giggling, "Carlisle, I think you're delusional."

"That may be, but I do need to borrow your blood for a few minutes."

"That implies that you're giving it back." She pointed out, rolling up the sleeves of the sweater she'd put on over her hospital gown.

"Okay, okay, word nazi, I need to take some of your blood."

"That's much better." Kyleigh winced when the needle went into her skin.

"I will be right back, don't move."

Kyleigh looked down at the IV still in her arm and snorted, "Aw darn, I was just thinking of doing some jazzercising to get myself going." Carlisle disappeared into the hall and Kyleigh leaned back and tried to close her eyes.

Jasper sidled into the room quietly, hoping to have a few minutes with her before Carlisle came back, _Damn, she's asleep_. He groaned inwardly. Carefully he made his way to her bed and sat down, willing her to wake up. When her eyes finally eased open, he froze, hoping that if he stayed at still as possible, she wouldn't scream, "Hi." He murmured, trying not to scare her.

She jumped and shrieked, making his efforts futile, "What are you doing here?" She hissed, subconsciously clenching her hands into fists.

"I came to apologize." Jasper made his voice drip with Southern charm, unleashing his full powers of persuasion on her.

Kyleigh felt all the muscles in her body relax, "Oh." She replied faintly, feeling limp.

Jasper let up a bit on her, not wanting her to pass out, "I was very out of line."

"Understatement." She muttered, sitting up straighter and crossing her arms (with difficulty, due to the fricken needle).

"You see, I have problems,"

Kyleigh interrupted him under her breath, "I can tell."

Jasper smiled, but continued, "I have problems with letting people go. It really bothers me when people give up before I'm ready to give up. And I know I don't know you," He cut her off before she could open her mouth, "But still, it's one of those personality quirks." Jasper was quite pleased with himself; he felt like Edward, using all these fancy words.

"Doesn't change a thing." She insisted, fighting the urge to let him off the hook.

Jasper sighed dramatically, "Women around here are so hard to please,"

"What do you mean 'women around here?'" Kyleigh asked, suddenly interested in this obnoxious, but enticing blonde stranger.

"I mean back in Texas and down south, women are much more…docile and polite."

"Texas? Aren't you Carlisle's kid?"

"Foster kid," He corrected, "I spent a little bit of time in the south before I met Carlisle and Esme."

"Oh." Kyleigh absorbed this, "And what does any of this have to do with me?"

"I'm just pointing out that apparently it's true when they say: southern women are much sweeter than northern women."

Kyleigh rolled her eyes, "Of course they're sweeter, they live in warmer weather and the men treat them like porcelain dolls. A northern girls gotta fend for herself."

"So I take it you've never dated a southern gentlemen?" Jasper asked delicately.

"I've never dated anyone, period." She locked eyes with him, daring him to question her.

He decided to change the subject, "Look, all I'm asking for is your forgiveness."

"And you were hoping that laying on the southern charm would win me over?"

Jasper concentrated on manipulating her into a more relaxed mood, "Yes, ma'am."

"Oh fine, whatever. Apology accepted." Kyleigh relented, "But don't think it's because of your southern charm."

"I won't, but you do have to admit that it had something to do with it."

"No, I'm just tired and want Carlisle to come back and make you go away."

Jasper began laughing.

"What?" Kyleigh glared at him.

"You have got to be the most stubborn woman I have ever met! Honestly, do you ever let your guard down?"

"Occasionally." She replied stiffly, not wanting to inform him that the only person she'd ever felt comfortable enough to do so around was his 'father,' "Besides, I only put my guard up because of the verbal assault."

"Yes, but we've moved past that." He reminded her patiently.

"True." She conceded, "Maybe I'll stop being mean to you, but only if you do me a favor."

"Let me guess: go away?"

"No, well yes, but no."

Jasper resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her confusing behavior, "Which is it?"

"Both. Will you see if Trudy's out in the hall and ask her to come in here, I need to talk to her. Oh and if she does come in, can you stay outside for a little bit?" Kyleigh asked quickly, scratching at her stomach absently, "Please."

"Okay." Jasper decided not to question this request and did as he was told. Once Trudy had gone inside, he set off to find Carlisle. He discovered Carlisle sitting at his desk in his tiny office, writing things in notebooks, "Carlisle."

The slightly older man glanced up and smiled, "Jasper, what brings you here?" He gestured for him to sit down.

"I just talked to Kyleigh."

Carlisle froze, his pen poised over the paper, "You did." A statement, not a question.

"Yes. I wanted to apologize for yesterday. Everything's okay now." Jasper assured him.

Carlisle nodded in relief and began working again.

"I think that we should tell her." Jasper decided not to sugar coat it, hoping that would make it easier.

Carlisle put his pen down, "Tell her about us, you mean?" He clarified quietly.

"This could be her chance to start over again." Jasper leaned forward, "You heard how bitter she sounded yesterday. Well, maybe this is what's meant to be."

"Since when do you believe in fate or destiny?"

"I don't." Jasper shook his head, "I just believe that this is the right thing to do…sort of like karma."

"A girl suffers from HIV for almost half her life and her karma will be to become a vampire?"

"No, it will be a new chance at life…well death, but life." Jasper corrected.

"I don't know about this, Jasper." Carlisle said heavily, leaning back in his chair and eyeing his son.

"I don't either, but I do know how I feel."

"About her."

"No, about her situation. I just have this feeling that this is supposed to happen and we need to at least approach it with her before it's too late. It should be her decision." Jasper's golden eyes were shining brightly.

"And how, might I ask, are you going to explain this to her?" Carlisle asked, not unkindly.

"Um." For the first time, Jasper faltered, "I think we just need to say it as simply and bluntly as possible."

"There's no 'we' in this part," Carlisle informed him, "If she says yes, I will change her, but you're going to be the one who's responsible for the rest."

"This kind of sounds like we're buying a new puppy or something." Jasper laughed.

Carlisle smiled, "Don't say that to her, women don't appreciate being compared to dogs. Plus, you just got back into her good graces. And I'm assuming you used more manipulation than most other people would use." He said shrewdly.

Jasper shrugged sheepishly, "I did what I had to do. When should I tell her?"

"Sooner rather than later."

"So…today?"

"You might want to have what you're going to say all planned out and rehearsed. Maybe you should work on it tonight with Esme then you can do it tomorrow." He suggested.

Jasper nodded, "That sounds like a smart idea. Oh and speaking of Esme, what are we doing for her birthday?"

"She doesn't like birthdays. I think a hug and some flowers will suffice. We don't exactly have a good track record with birthday parties."

Jasper winced at the memory of Bella's birthday, "Point well taken. Okay, I'm going to go get ready."

"Jasper." Carlisle called, stopping Jasper in his tracks, "How was Kyleigh doing?"

"She was being stubborn and I told her about how northern women are bitter, not that that helped."

"I meant physically." He said patiently.

"Oh, alright, I guess. She asked me to get Trudy and to stay out of the room for a little while, I don't know what that was about, but I did notice her scratching at her stomach a bit."

Carlisle was at his feet in an instant, sweeping past Jasper and running to Kyleigh's room, "She might be developing Kaposi's Sarcoma." He literally flew into Kyleigh's room. Jasper decided it would be best to stay in the hall, but that didn't keep him from listening.

"What's going on, guys?" He heard Carlisle ask casually.

"Nothing much," Trudy replied, "We were just going down her symptoms to see what's what."

"I never liked that expression." Kyleigh mused. Jasper smiled at the fact that she was probably in severe danger and she was still making small talk.

"So, what are they?" Carlisle prodded.

"Fever, nausea, head ache, muscle ache," Trudy listed methodically.

Jasper heard Kyleigh chant the Pepto Bismol commercial under her breath and cracked up, covering his mouth so they wouldn't hear.

"Anything else?" Carlisle asked pointedly, "No other infections."

"I thought I had that sycamore thing." Kyleigh told him.

"…that sycamore thing?" Jasper could practically hear Carlisle's brow furrowing.

"She means the Sarcoma thing." Trudy clarified for him.

"Ah. And?"

"False alarm." Trudy said, "Just hives."

"Good, good." Carlisle breathed a sigh of relief, "We can give you some Benadryl for that."

"Nope." Kyleigh responded quickly, "I'm doing this old school."

"Doing it old school?" Carlisle repeated skeptically.

"You know, the old fashioned way. Purity and all."

"Is this a new fad I'm missing out on?" Carlisle was smiling as he spoke, but Jasper could feel his frustration.

"Taking it like a man is all the rage. So really, I'm fine now, you can carry on about your day. Oh and just so you know, I still think your son is crazy."

Jasper grinned to himself.

"He has that affect on a lot of people," Carlisle laughed, "Well then, I'll be back. Trudy, be sure to get some food into her, please."

Carlisle came out of the room and didn't seem surprised to find Jasper standing there, "The sooner, the better." He murmured to him then stepped around him and disappeared down the hall.

Jasper paused then peeked his head around the corner, watching Trudy unwrap something and hold it in front of Kyleigh. Kyleigh had her head turned away and was staring at the wall, but after a few seconds of Trudy murmuring to her, she turned back and took the sandwich. Jasper then turned on his heel and left the hospital quickly, already working out his speech in his head.

**So what did you think? Please review so I have an idea of what you want. There will be more to come, I've written many future chapters already. Oh and sorry for rushing her symptoms, but I don't really want to waste a lot of time developing her illness. **


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't normally post 2 chapters at a time, but I figured since I'm working on Chapter 6 right now, I might as well keep updating. Anyway, I own nothing, though I do wish I could have Jasper, even if it were just for a night. Enjoy!**

"If you really want to lay it to her straight, maybe you should just go 'look, sweetheart, I'm a blood sucking monster and I think that it would help your situation a lot if you became one too so if you don't mind, I'm just gonna bite your neck now.'"

Everyone ignored Emmet. Again.

"Honey, maybe you should just let it go for a little while," Esme suggested lightly, "Go take a walk or something."

"I need to do this tomorrow," He reminded her.

"Well, you've got all night unless you've got some secret plans you aren't sharing." Rosalie pointed out, smiling slightly.

"Funny, Rose." Jasper retorted, resuming his pacing of the room. He'd been working his hardest to come up with his speech for the better of 3 hours and it was taking its toll on his family.

"Have Carlisle write it," Emmet said exasperatedly after another failed attempt by Jasper on creating something.

"I can't, he said that I had to do this part."

"I thought he said that you have to do the actual telling her part, he didn't say anything about you being the one to word it together."

"He did, but I want it to be in my own words." Jasper's voice was slipping into a more southern drawl as he became more stressed out.

Esme crossed over to him and put a hand on his arm, "Sweetheart, give it a rest for a little bit. Why don't you and Emmet go for a quick hunt, it might help you focus better."

Jasper considered this idea for a minute, "Yeah, that's a good idea. Thanks, Esme."

"Anytime, Jasper." She smiled warmly at him then went and sat back down in her chair next to Rosalie.

"So, what are we going for?" Emmet asked, already to his feet and standing by the door eagerly.

"Mountain lion." Jasper determined, "Rosalie, would you like to come?" He offered politely though he knew she'd decline.

"No thank you." She was busy organizing one of their many CD cases.

"Let's go, man!" Emmet urged. Jasper grinned at him then the two of them launched themselves out the door and into the night.

_I'm so cheap_

Kyleigh was watching the hands of the clock slowly moving rhythmically in a circle. One would think that doing this would be extremely tedious, but in her feverish state, it was fascinating. Trudy had been in and out, checking on her every half hour. She so rarely saw any of the other nurses, but she could guess that it had something to do with the fact that A. they were in a relatively small town and B. AIDs had a pretty bad rep. _I mean, sure it's easily spread and is a very slow and painful death, but that doesn't mean I'm not fun to talk to…as long as they don't try to have sex with me or drink my blood, they'd be fine._

Trudy came in again, looking over all of the monitors.

"I don't think any of your staff went to medical school." Kyleigh murmured, feeling too weak to put effort into speaking loudly.

"And why is that?" Trudy asked distractedly.

"They clearly don't know that AIDs isn't spread via touch or breathing so it'd be perfectly safe for them to come in here and check on me themselves."

Trudy smiled down at her, "You don't like people anyway," She pointed out, "Besides, I like checking on you. When you're weak like this, you're so much cuter." She laughed at the glare Kyleigh shot at her then left the room again.

Kyleigh pursed her lips, trying to think of something to do then gave up and turned towards the clock again, letting its steady repetition lull her into a restless sleep.

_Right now behind true lies, a dragon's tongue lashing out _

Jasper forgot how frustrating it was to have to wait until it was an acceptable hour to call upon someone. Honestly, it was so infuriating, the whole not sleeping thing. Though, he had to admit that it astounded him how much time he had wasted of his previous life lying in bed when he could've been living. Carlisle left for work and Esme made Jasper wait a few more hours before allowing him to follow suit.

The closer Jasper got to Kyleigh's room, the more apprehensive he felt. This was dangerous. If she started screaming and caused a scene, the Volturi would get involved and they would never approve of purposely changing a human like this. He should've requested a tranquilizer to slip her in case she decided to go into freak out mode. _Although, I could probably act as her tranquilizer._ He mused to himself, finally reaching her door and knocking lightly.

"Come in?" He heard her rasp out.

He went into the room, "I liked the question mark at the end, that was a very assertive answer."

Kyleigh was about to respond, but began coughing. She waved him away when he tried to hit the nurse call button, instead burying her face in the sheets, her body wracking with each cough. He reached over and lightly pressed his cool fingers against the back of her neck. As her coughing subsided and her breathing returned to normal, she sat back and looked up at him, her eyes watering lightly, "I added the question mark because most people don't knock in hospitals," She coughed lightly a few times, "They just barge in like they own the place."

"Are you alright?" He murmured, his fingers still on her neck.

"In relative terms, I suppose." She cleared her throat then wiped her eyes with the bottom of her shirt.

"Good, cause I need to talk to you."

"Oh Jesus." She muttered, taking one of her pillows and covering her face with it.

"I need you to listen really carefully," He sat down on the edge of her bed, pausing for a second to see if she would object. When she didn't, he continued, "This is a huge secret, technically I can't tell anyone, but we've decided that we can possibly make an exception for you…if you promise that you don't tell anyone and you don't start screaming."

She lowered the pillow, "I wasn't nervous at all until that last bit."

"Kyleigh, do you promise?"

She was going to say no, but when she looked into his eyes, she suddenly trusted him, "Fine, yes, I promise. Tell me your secret."

"Do you believe in supernatural things?"

"Like ghosts?" She shrugged, "I guess so."

"Werewolves?"

"I'm fairly certain my first doctor was one."

"Vampires?" He tested the word carefully.

"Well, there is that vampire disease, porphyria. So I suppose that in a way, vampires exist."

"No, I mean it in the literal sense of the word."

"You mean like only comes out at night, sucks people's blood, can't be near garlic? That kind of vampire?"

"Well, you're right about the blood thing, but we can go out during the day as long as there's no sun…and garlic doesn't affect us, unless you're like me and don't like the taste of it."

"Vampires can't go out during the day!" Kyleigh began to argue, "They'd burn-" she paused, "Wait…did you say 'we?'"

Jasper merely nodded, using all of his powers to keep her calm; Carlisle would rip him apart and burn him up if this backfires.

"So you're saying that you think you're a vampire." She said slowly.

"Darling, I don't think, I know I am."

"Oh." Kyleigh stared at him for a second, "You are a freaking nutcase." She declared.

Jasper laughed, "I'm glad that that's the only thing you think."

"Look, I know I have a fever and I'm pretty loopy right now, but even I'm lucid enough to realize that you are crazy."

Jasper leaned forward, unleashing his powers on her as best he could, "I'm not crazy, Kyleigh. All those things you've read…except for the garlic thing, are true. Vampires exist. If you don't believe me, touch me." He held out an arm.

Kyleigh stared at it, "Why?"

"Just do it, Ky." Jasper said exasperatedly, annoyed that he was getting nowhere with the whole emotional manipulation thing.

Kyleigh tentatively reached out and brushed her fingers over his cool skin, "So? You're freezing, I'm cold all the time too."

"Squeeze it."

Kyleigh looked mildly put out, but did as she was told, "You're…strong. It's like touching stone, or something."

"How many humans do you know that have this kind body?"

"Please, you could be a 'roid user."

Jasper sighed heavily, "I didn't want to do this." He reached over and took hold of one of the metal bars holding up the IV bag, slowly and deliberately twisting it around as if it were rubber.

Kyleigh gasped softly, "Okay, so you're really strong…that doesn't necessarily mean you're a vamp-"

Jasper reached over and pressed a finger against her lips then moved at lightning speed so he was next to her bed just as Trudy walked in.

"Kyleigh, honey, I brought you red jello and I also managed to nab a pack of Oreos…Oh, hello Jasper." She looked over at him, surprised to see him there, "I didn't realize you had a visitor."

"We're becoming quite chummy." Kyleigh informed her, taking the jello happily, "Red's my favorite." She informed Jasper.

Jasper wished that Emmet could be here to see the irony in her statement; if she became a vampire, red would still be her favorite, just not as jello, "Would you like for me to leave?" He asked politely, his southern manners shining through.

"Um, could you?" Kyleigh asked, setting her jello aside, "You can come back after, but I need to talk to Trudy…"

"I understand." He assured her, nodding at Trudy then stepping out into the hall to wait.

Inside, Trudy lifted Kyleigh's shirt, "Well, your hives seem to be relaxing a bit. Are they still itchy?"

"The ones on my stomach aren't."

"They've spread?" Trudy asked, "Where are they now?"

"I have them on my back now. I'm hoping they don't spread to anywhere visible."

"Keeping up appearances for the male company." Trudy grinned knowingly.

"No, just keeping up appearances in general." She insisted.

"Mhm." Trudy clearly didn't believe her, "You haven't been scratching, have you?"

"Does rubbing count?"

Trudy sighed, "Well, I suppose not. Are you sure you don't want any Benadryl?"

"Positive." She said firmly.

"Okay, let's just write everything down so when Carlisle comes in, he can go over everything quickly."

"Hey Trudy?"

"Hey Kyleigh,"

"What's my T Cell count?"

"I don't know, hon. I haven't gotten the results back yet."

"Are you lying?"

"Nope, they're still testing, I think."

"I think you're lying."

"That's okay, I think you're lying too. It all evens out in the end. I'll go see if they're up, but I make no promises."

"Okay…thanks for the jello."

"Anytime, anytime." Trudy left and Jasper returned, sitting on the edge of the bed with her again.

"So…you're a vampire." Kyleigh asked, taking her jello and ripping open the container.

"Yes." Jasper smiled at her, "You believe me?"

"I'm not sure, to be honest." She sucked on the spoon thoughtfully, "But considering Trudy's lying to me about my blood work which means I probably have AIDs now, I guess I'm willing to believe anything."

"Well, I suppose that's good logic." Jasper was eyeing the jello with slight disgust.

"Wait a second," Kyleigh froze, "Oh my God. Oh my God! Carlisle's one of you! He's a-" Jasper clapped a hand over her mouth again.

"Kyleigh, you have to keep your voice down. Yes, we all are. Me, Emmet, Carlisle and the rest of our family."

"…How many of you are there?" Her jello was forgotten as she stared at Jasper in rapture.

"In my family, there's the 3 of us then Emmet's wife Rosalie, Carlisle's wife Esme, my brother Edward and his wife Bella oh and they're daughter Renesmee. But there are a lot of us out there, more than one might think."

"Oh my God…" Kyleigh was blatantly staring at Jasper.

"Would you stop doing that, you're making me nervous." He complained.

"Can you blame me?" She hissed, "After everything you've just told me!"

Jasper was waiting for when she'd freak out about the whole blood sucking thing.

As if on cue, Kyleigh reared away from him, "Wait a second, wait a second! You suck blood!" She dodged his hand as it tried to cover her mouth, "What the hell are all of you doing here if you like to snack on unsuspecting people?"

Jasper worked her emotions back down a bit, "We like to think of ourselves as vegetarians."

"…plants don't have blood." She pointed out dumbly.

"Darling, I know that," Jasper laughed, "We only eat animals, not humans."

"Oh." Kyleigh absorbed this, "Why are you telling me this, Jasper? Not that it hasn't been interesting or anything, but why?"

"This is the part you can't scream about." He warned her, "Part of being…like us…is you live forever. You don't get sick, you're almost invincible. Yes, there are ways to die, but they are too difficult to even mention. You're stronger and faster than anything else in this world; all of your senses are heightened…it's like living on some ridiculous drug all the time. Of course, there are drawbacks: you don't sleep, you don't age; once you've changed, you stay the way you look forever,"

"Then there's the whole drinking blood thing." Kyleigh muttered under her breath.

"Right." Jasper nodded.

"I still don't get it."

"You've been sick since you were 12, yes?"

"Yup."

"And you're how old now?"

"19."

"You've probably missed out on a lot in life. And now you're going to die soon and you'll never have those experiences."

"Gee, thanks for reminding me." She rolled her eyes.

He gently reached over and took her hands, "Kyleigh, think about everything I've just told you. You'd get to live a long life, you'd never get sick again, it'd be a do over."

Kyleigh was chewing her lip, trying to figure everything out. Then it hit her. "You…you want to _change_ me so I can be like you?"

"I want to give you a second chance." He amended.

"By…sucking my blood and killing me?"

"Kind of, but you'd just be the living dead. All the perks of being alive without actually living." Jasper tried to sound upbeat about it.

"You're out of your fucking mind." Kyleigh tried to push him away, but he didn't even move, "Why should I do this?"

"Do you want to die?" He locked eyes with her again, working hard at winning her over, "Do you want to die at 19 without ever being kissed or falling in love or having a career?"

Kyleigh felt tears spill over, "Stop." She begged, "Please, just stop. Of course I don't want to die! But I don't want to live this way either."

"I'm giving you an opportunity, Ky. It may sound bleak, but then again, so does dying for real." He shrugged.

Kyleigh was sobbing. Carefully, Jasper slid closer to her and pulled her into his arms, her scent intoxicating him almost to the breaking point, but he managed to control himself as he stroked her hair. _Either I've developed a new resistance to human blood or this girl is a lot more important to me than I realized._ "I didn't want to make you cry." He soothed as her sobs quieted down, "I'm just trying to…help you. It may not seem that way now, but maybe at some point, hopefully soon, you'll realize it."

Kyleigh had finally stopped crying, but she had her face buried against his rock hard chest anyway, the coolness of his skin soothing her hot forehead through his shirt. He rubbed her shoulders gently, proud of himself for not trying to devour her.

"Kyleigh?" He asked.

She giggled as his chest rumbled when he said her name, "What?"

"Do…do you want kids?" He blurted out; if he had blood, he would've been blushing.

"Excuse me?" Kyleigh asked incredulously, pulling back to look at him.

"This is important: do you want kids?"

"I'm 19, of course not. And even if I did, I couldn't have them because if they managed to be born without the disease, I'd still die before seeing them grow up. Plus, no one would want to procreate with me." She said quickly, blushing herself.

"Okay, just checking." He pulled her back against his chest, tucking her face into the crook of his neck.

She sighed as his marble like skin soothed her fever, "Why?"

"If you become like me, you can't have kids. It's another drawback."

"Oh. Well. I guess it's a good thing I've already written it off as a non-option."

"I should go and let you think about everything."

He was about to get up, but she clung to him, "Wait, I have a question."

He tried not to laugh; he figured she probably thought she was holding him in place when really he barely felt her pulling at him, "What's up?"

"Will this have any effect on Carlisle? My disease?"

"No. He doesn't have any blood in him," Jasper spoke in a low voice, "How it will affect you, we're not sure. Typically, newborns are extremely strong and dangerous because they still have human blood in them. But since your blood isn't as good as a normal person's, you might not be quite as powerful. Believe me, that's not a bad thing. Newborns can be very dangerous if not controlled."

Kyleigh nodded then yawned, "Okay."

Jasper detached her from around his neck and gently laid her back down. He glanced over and saw the metal pole still bent out of shape. Grimacing, he grabbed it and straightened it out as best he could, smiling when he heard Kyleigh laughing, "Get some sleep. Carlisle and I need to talk before we talk to you."

"Jasper, I haven't even made my decision yet." Kyleigh pointed out sleepily.

"I know, but you will." He gave her his signature half smile, "Go to sleep." He left and Kyleigh drifted off into a nice dream about her being strong and beautiful. No nightmares for Kyleigh that night.

**To be honest, I have no idea whether or not changing a person with HIV would affect a vampire, but I'm fairly certain it wouldn't and it doesn't matter since this whole franchise is a suspension of disbelief. Anyway: thoughts, comments, concerns? I'll update soon! Oh and the italics that separate the story lines are the lyrics to the song Darling You're Mean by The Duke Spirit. I recommend the song, it's really good. Really now, I'm done. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's chapter 4! (obviously.) The real story will begin soon, I promise. I own nothing except for my darling Kyleigh who makes me giggle. **

Kyleigh woke with a start, her heart hammering, _Did I dream that?_ She thought to herself, _Was all of that in my head?_ She looked over to the stand holding up her heart monitor; it was slightly bent and she worked hard to remember if it had been like that all along.

Carlisle walked in, whistling to himself as he flipped through her chart, "Good morning, Kyleigh, how are you feeling?"

Kyleigh stared at him intently, trying to figure out if there was some secret code in his greeting.

"Kyleigh?" Carlisle waved a hand in front of her face, "Are you alright?"

_Alright?_ She thought frantically, _apparently this hospital is full of vampires that could at any moment decide to kill me and he wants to know if I'm alright?_ "Yes, I'm fine." She responded, still searching for a sign.

"Good." Carlisle smiled at her.

Kyleigh searched his mouth for fangs.

"So Trudy says your hives had spread to your back, would you mind if I take a look?" He moved towards her, already reaching up to untie her gown.

Kyleigh shied away from him then forced herself to relax, "Sure."

"Is something bothering you, little one?" Carlisle asked as he gently lifted her shirt.

"No…yes…no." Kyleigh was having a mini version of a civil war in her head over asking him outright.

"You have always been so definitive with your answers." He teased, "They seem to be calming down now, maybe it was just from the fever. When was the last time you had your temperature checked?"

"Uh…I dunno." She shrugged, sighing in relief when he tied her gown back up.

"Again with the definite attitude." He said under his breath, grabbing a thermometer and shoving it in her mouth. It beeped. "100.2. All things considered, I'd say that's not bad."

"Easy for you to say." She muttered.

Carlisle sat on the edge of her bed, "I spoke to Jasper last night."

Kyleigh's head snapped up, "You did."

"He said that you took the news as well as one could expect. He said that you were considering your…options." He chose his words carefully.

"Either way, I die, right?" Kyleigh said, laughing without humor.

"In a way, yes." He conceded, "This is your decision. We're not going to try and talk you into it, but I will say this: Jasper has never been more sure of himself since he came to join us. You might want to keep that in mind. He doesn't take things lightly." Carlisle stood up and made for the door.

"Carlisle, what will happen to me?" She asked, freezing him in his place.

He turned around slowly, "For you in particular? I can't be sure, I doubt anyone has ever attempted this form of…treatment." He grimaced slightly, "I have to believe that you'd be alright." He went back over to her and dropped his voice, "My son Edward was in horrible condition at the time as well and he did fine."

"You, you changed him?" Kyleigh asked incredulously.

"Yes, I did. Years and years ago."

"Did you change Jasper?"

"No, he was changed by someone else. He came to my family later on. I changed Edward, my wife Esme, my daughter Rosalie and Emmet. You know Emmet, of course."

"Big dude, lots of muscle." Kyleigh confirmed.

"That's a good way to describe him; I'm sure he'd take that as the highest of compliments. I have to go make my rounds, Kyleigh. We can talk later, right now you just need to focus on feeling better…and think about your decision." Carlisle nodded to her and left. Kyleigh slumped back in her bed, counting down the minutes until Trudy would bustle in to force feed her. Kyleigh wished they would understand the pain she felt every time she swallowed. _Maybe becoming a vampire wouldn't be such a bad thing after all…_

_I'm trying to get you, but you don't realize_

Jasper crept past the nurse's station, intent on getting to Kyleigh's room unnoticed, but paused when he heard sniffling. He glanced into the office and saw that nurse Trudy crying while some other nurse patted her shoulder sympathetically.

"There, there." He heard the nurse soothe as Trudy sobbed, "We all knew it was going to happen at some point."

Trudy nodded and took a few deep breaths, "I know, I was just hoping that…well that maybe she would beat the odds."

"She put up a good fight," She assured.

"I guess I should go tell Dr. Cullen, he has a special relationship with Kyleigh, he should be the one to tell her," Trudy took another deep breath and the nurse handed her a Kleenex to wipe her eyes with.

Jasper took this as his cue to move on. He swiftly moved through the halls, searching for his father. He found Carlisle coming out of someone's room, "Carlisle. It's time."

Carlisle glanced around then beckoned Jasper to move into an alcove with him, "She's made her decision?"

"No, but her body has. I overheard Trudy saying it was all over, she was crying."

Carlisle sighed heavily and dropped his head in defeat, "Kyleigh's CD4+ T cells must have dropped below 200."

"Meaning she has AIDs, right?" Jasper sifted through the research he had done to figure out what it meant.

"According to the CDC," Carlisle confirmed, "We still need her consent."

"I was just on my way to talk to her. Oh and Trudy said she was going to come look for you to let you know about…everything."

"I figured. Okay." Carlisle shook his head, clearing it, "I think it would be best if you went to talk to her then I can come in and tell her. That way you're there in case she freaks out and maybe we can both broach the subject with her; me from a medical stand point and you from a…"

"Semi-professional newborn caretaker stand point." Jasper half smiled, "Got it." He turned and set off to her room. Carlisle remained where he was for a moment, allowing himself to grieve then was off and moving again.

_I'm a nightmare_

Jasper was surprised to see Kyleigh sitting up and reading a book when he looked into her room; for a girl who was supposedly on her last leg, she seemed to be doing well. He knocked lightly, causing her to jump, "Sorry." He said sheepishly, "I just figured you'd want me to knock."

Kyleigh had a hand pressed against her heart, "I appreciate the gesture, but I'd rather not die of a heart attack, thanks."

"My apologies, ma'am." Jasper sat down on the chair next to her bed, "So, what's up?"

"I just listened to someone puke next door, I have the sweats and I'm fairly certain that my throat is slowly constricting. Oh and I'm still absorbing the fact that there are," she mouthed the word 'vampires' "in this world, but other than that I'm doing fine and dandy. How are you?"

"I'm doing well, thanks." Jasper replied, deciding he couldn't compete with that kind of answer, "Have you thought at all about what I said last night?"

"Considering there's nothing else to do around here, yes, I certainly have." Kyleigh put the book down.

"And?"

"Well…" She picked at her nail, "It's not exactly like I'd be leaving anyone behind. I don't have any friends and my family hasn't spoken to me in 6 years. And it's not really like I'd be giving up my life since I'm going to die soon anyway. But forever is also a very long time."

"Yes, it is," Jasper nodded, "But then again, if you just die the normal way, you'd be dead forever, too."

"Good point," Kyleigh shrugged, not knowing what else to say. She clearly hadn't made a decision yet.

Before Jasper could prove another point, Carlisle walked in and Jasper gently reached over and took Kyleigh's hand. Kyleigh stared between their linked hands and Carlisle's blank expression, "Let me guess, this isn't a happy visit. What now? I have some obscure cancer? Half of my lung has imploded?"

Carlisle shook his head at both theories, "No to both of those, but you're right, this isn't a happy visit."

Kyleigh nodded and braced herself for something worse than cancer and a collapsed lung, "Okay, I'm ready."

"I have your blood work, it came in this morning," He paused significantly, watching as realization dawned on Kyleigh's face, "And…"

"And?" Kyleigh prodded, her expression hard.

"I'm so sorry, Kyleigh." Carlisle clearly meant it, "Your count dropped below 200."

"So now I'm a bona fide AIDs patient." She concluded.

Carlisle nodded, eyeing her carefully.

"Well…it could be worse, I suppose," Kyleigh fought for composure, "I could have prostate cancer." She tried to make a joke, but her voice cracked. Jasper lightly squeezed her hand, praying he wouldn't accidentally break it, "I mean, then not only would I have cancer, but I'd also be a man." Tears finally spilled over, "No offense." She choked out, covering her face with her hands. Jasper moved onto the bed with her and pulled her stiffly into his arms. Carlisle turned away to give them a few minutes of privacy.

If Kyleigh hadn't just found out that she officially had AIDs and was either going to die or become a vampire, she probably would've care more about the fact that some random person she barely knew was holding her against his freezing chest. Then again, if she went along with this mythical plan, he would be her "brother." If she went along with this, she'd have a family, she realized. She'd have a fake mother and father and siblings. This revelation made the tears stop flowing because she now saw this whole proposition in a different light. She used Jasper's shirt to wipe her eyes, deciding he wouldn't care about getting wet, _it's a good thing he's not a witch._

"How long do I have? Generally speaking?" She croaked, not quite ready to lift her head and fully address the room.

"I can't really tell you, Kyleigh," Carlisle said apologetically, "But I can remind you of something you already know: you're not going to die of AIDs, you'll die of a related illness and whatever illness it could be will probably be painful. It's not a pleasant way to go."

"What, exactly, would be a pleasant way to die?" Jasper asked.

"Dying in your sleep," Kyleigh murmured, "No anticipation, no pain. It'd be perfect." Though Kyleigh couldn't see him, Carlisle nodded in agreement. "Let's just say that I decided to go the other way," Kyleigh began, "How does it work?"

"Carlisle will do the actual changing part."

"You mean the bite?" Kyleigh pulled her face away from his shirt.

"Right." Carlisle said, "Then you'll be in pain for a little while; the amount of time is different for everyone."

"Don't sugar coat, Carlisle. At first, you'll wish you'd chosen to die because of the burning, but the important thing to remember is that all of us have gotten through it." Jasper ignored Carlisle's murderous expression.

"Okay," Kyleigh nodded bravely, "Then what?"

"You'll wake up," Carlisle replied simply.

"Typically, as I said, a newborn is stronger than an adult, but that may be a bit different for you. Be prepared though: you will want blood. You will do anything, say anything, give anything to satiate that thirst. This probably won't be a problem since we can provide for you whatever you need, but you'll have to stay away from humans for awhile. At least until you can control yourself." Jasper didn't mention that he still had a lot of trouble controlling himself; he could save his story for another day.

"But we will teach you all that we know. We will help you with the whole vegetarian diet thing. I think you'll probably enjoy being like us. You'll be strong and fast and graceful. You'll be able to do things that you never dreamed of doing because you'll be so powerful. It is literally going to be an entirely different world for you, Kyleigh." Carlisle decided to paint a pretty picture for her to cover up the whole blood thirsty monster aspect Jasper had just created.

Kyleigh merely sat on the bed, Jasper's arms still around her then nodded, "Okay."

"Okay as in 'okay, you're crazy' or okay as in you'll do it?" Jasper checked.

"Both." Kyleigh smiled, "I've literally got nothing to lose."

"Alright," Carlisle went over and shut the door, "Here's the plan…"

**Thank you for the alerts you guys have put on my story, they make me happy, though I'd be even happier if I'd get a few reviews. Please? I like to know what you think. Anyway, the next few chapters are lined up and ready, so stay tuned! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you for my reviews guys! Anyway, I still own nothing, but Miss Kyleigh. **

Kyleigh Montgomery died two days later from undetected tuberculosis meningitis. Carlisle hadn't thought to check for the illness and consequently it lead to her death. At least, that's what Carlisle told the hospital to explain her absence. It wasn't a complete lie, Kyleigh did have TB, just not TB meningitis. The night before her "death," Carlisle had coached her to appear as sick as possible so that people would believe his story then around 3 in the morning, he, Emmet and Jasper snuck into her room to bust her out.

Emmet was the most excited at the prospect of "kidnap." He made Jasper wear all black with him and even tried to don a ski mask, but Carlisle put the kibosh on it. Technically, Carlisle wasn't sneaking around, since he worked at the hospital, so he just made it his job to make sure no one was around while Jasper and Emmet went into Kyleigh's room to take her.

Before they could move her, they had to detach all of the machines holding her hostage. Neither of them felt too keen on it, since it involved removing a few needles from her arms and they didn't want to hurt her, but after a quick game of rock, paper, scissors, it was decided that Jasper would have to do it. He made Kyleigh shut her eyes, even though she wasn't a squeamish person, then hauled all of them out at once, causing her to scream. Thankfully, Emmet shoved a pillow over her face to muffle the sound.

"What?" Emmet asked Jasper, who was glaring at him, "Would you rather she scream and wake up the entire hospital?"

"No, but I'd also rather you not suffocate her. Or break her nose. Ky, are you alright?"

Kyleigh shoved the pillow away and massaged her nose, "When I become strong like you, I'm so getting revenge. That really hurt!"

Emmet grinned at her, "Sorry." He responded, then leaned down to scoop her up.

"Wait!" Jasper hissed, "We have to get the oxygen tank hooked up."

"Screw that, man." Kyleigh shook her head, "I'm so not putting that on."

"Carlisle insists." Jasper responded, already beginning to unwrap the cords. He gestured to Emmet to hold her down then deftly got her hooked up to it.

"You didn't even put up a fight," Emmet laughed.

"Yes I did!"

"Oh…I didn't feel it," He snickered.

Kyleigh was about to punch him, but Jasper caught her hand, "Believe me, Darling, that will hurt you more than him."

Kyleigh sighed dejectedly, "Alright, let's get out of here."

From there it was pretty easy. Jasper grabbed Kyleigh's few belongings and took off while Emmet carried her through the hospital, down to the morgue and out the back door where Jasper was waiting with their 'getaway car.' Emmet gently slid Kyleigh into the backseat then Jasper took the wheel and they began winding their way back to the Cullen manor. Emmet called Carlisle to inform him that the "eagle was sprung and the west was won." Kyleigh snorted and rolled her eyes at him.

They pulled into the garage in record time where Esme was waiting. Jasper ran around the car and lifted Kyleigh up, ignoring her complaints ("I'm not just some toy you have to haul around. I can walk you know!"). Emmet had already disappeared inside to make sure that the bed was all set up for her in an empty room.

"Hi Kyleigh, I'm Esme," She introduced herself kindly, keeping pace with Jasper as he hurried up the stairs, "I'm so excited that you've decided to join us."

"Uh, thank you for adopting me?" Kyleigh laughed, wheezing slightly. Jasper laid her down on the bed then rearranged the oxygen tank so she didn't have to hold it anymore.

"We want you to be as comfortable as possible," Esme said, turning on a low lamp to shed some light into the room. It was large, of course, and well stocked with books and CDs, "Are you hungry?"

"Kind of, but as I keep telling people, it really hurts to eat."

"Ky, this is probably your last human meal," Jasper pointed out quietly, standing next to her at the head of the bed, "We can order anything you want."

"I'd love to cook for you," Esme added, "We have a beautiful kitchen that we've used only once."

"I'm actually really tired right now…I think I'd rather have my last nap," She yawned.

"Of course, sweetheart," Esme smiled warmly, "If you need anything at all, just call one of us." She squeezed her hand gently then left.

"She is so freaking nice," Kyleigh gushed as soon as Esme had turned the corner.

"Esme's pretty great," Jasper agreed, "I guess I'll just go let you sleep…"

Kyleigh reached over and grabbed his wrist, "Actually, I'd rather you stay, if that's alright." She blushed, "It's just…I'm in a house full of vampires and I'm not really up to a fight and I'd like to not be alone."

"Sure," Jasper pulled an arm chair over and sat next to her. Since Kyleigh was finally IV-free, she could roll onto her side and curl up in a ball, though the breathing tube did make things a little difficult. They sat in silence for awhile and Jasper thought Kyleigh was asleep until she spoke.

"Jasper?" she breathed.

"Yes?" He leaned forward.

"Why aren't you doing it?"

"Doing it?"

"Changing me," Her eyes were still closed.

"I don't have the control that Carlisle does. I'd probably kill you." Jasper said bluntly.

"Oh," Kyleigh bit her lip, "I kind of thought that it was because…"

"Because?" Jasper tilted his head.

"Because I'm sick. Like, you didn't want to be tainted."

"Jesus, Ky, no!" Jasper reached over and cupped her hot face with his hands, "It's not that at all. I've never tried to change anyone before, I wouldn't know when to stop."

"Okay," Kyleigh nodded, enjoying the coolness of his hands, "You're very useful. Who needs drugs or a cool compress when I can just use you?"

Jasper cracked up, "I'm so glad I could be of use to you."

Kyleigh smiled faintly and Jasper lightly released her, assuming she was trying to fall asleep. Jasper went and grabbed a book, figuring he might as well do something productive while on 'guard duty.' It wasn't until hours later that Kyleigh stirred and sat up, clearly disoriented. Jasper struck his hand out to keep the oxygen tube in place. She looked over at him and smiled sleepily, "I completely forgot about Operation: Busta Corpse."

"That was the abbreviated version. Emmet originally had it as Operation: Busta Corpse That's Not Technically A Corpse Yet Cause She's Still Alive But Not For Long Mwhaha."

"I like the shortened version better," Kyleigh laughed, shaking her head at Emmet.

"So, how are you feeling?" Jasper asked.

"Not too bad, considering to the rest of the world I'm dead," Kyleigh stretched.

Esme came in then carrying a tray with coffee, juice, French toast, strawberries and even Pop tarts on it, "I know you don't want to eat, but I can't let you starve either." She set the tray down in front of her, "How did you sleep?"

"Pretty well, thank you," Kyleigh ripped open a package of Pop tarts.

"Alright, I'm gonna go talk to Emmet for a minute, I'll be back," Jasper put his book down and left.

Esme took his vacated seat, "Is there anything you want before…you know," She asked kindly.

"Um," Kyleigh winced as she swallowed, "Like last requests?"

"Right," Esme nodded, "Like something special to eat or maybe you'd like to go for a walk or something…not that you can't walk as a vampire, but well, you know what I mean. I could send Rosalie to rent your favorite movie. Actually, we could probably just ask Emmet to put on a show for you, he's always willing to show off."

Kyleigh fidgeted with her spoon, tears in her eyes.

"Honey?" Esme got up and sat on the bed next to her, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Kyleigh's voice was trembling, "It's just…it's been a long time since I've had a Mom…or something who treats you like their own. I mean, there were nurses," She added quickly, thinking of Trudy, "But they were getting paid to care…" Kyleigh broke off, biting her lip.

Esme smiled sadly, slipping an arm around her shoulder and squeezing her lightly, "It's okay, sweetheart, it's alright. I always wanted to be a Mom, you know. I kind of relish in it, to be honest."

Kyleigh leaned her head against Esme, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"I think that what you need is a long, hot bath to relax," Esme said into her hair, "Just spend a little time by yourself, then you'll be all refreshed for tonight."

Kyleigh nodded and allowed Esme to lead her into the bathroom and draw a bath. When she was through soaking, Esme came back in and wrapped her in a towel, taking her arm and helping Kyleigh back to her room. Kyleigh hated how weak on her feet she was.

"Rosalie and I decided to go buy you some new clothes," Esme told her, opening up the closet and revealing a full wardrobe, "We just thought it would be nice for you to have new things to wear to go along with your new life."

Kyleigh grinned at Esme and allowed her to help her into a pair of comfy sweats. Once Esme had disappeared back down the stairs, Kyleigh pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head against them, thinking about everything that had happened. She didn't even notice that Jasper had come in until he spoke:

"Feel better now?"

She jumped and glared at him, "Stop sneaking up on me!"

"Hey, it's not my fault you have poor hearing," Jasper laughed, sitting down next to her, "Esme loves you."

"I love Esme," Kyleigh responded, "She's so much more…motherly…than my own mother was."

Jasper grinned, "She's happy to have another daughter."

"It must suck to be 2 against 3," Kyleigh sighed.

Jasper stiffened, remembering that it used to be even, "I think they hold their own."

"Oh I'm sure they do," She agreed, "Esme keeps asking me for my last requests."

"Come up with anything yet?"

"Every time I try, my mind goes blank."

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, Ky," He smiled at the double entendre, "Come up with something good."

"Well," Kyleigh paused, "I mean I have come up with a few random things."

"Oh yeah?" Jasper looked at her, "Let's hear 'em."

"The last thing I really want to eat is chocolate," She began, "Honestly, I think I'm going to miss eating chocolate a lot."

"Maybe at first, but after a few decades, you'll find human food repulsive. What else?"

"Um," Kyleigh faltered.

"Great idea, I'd choose that, too," Jasper teased.

"Don't laugh, okay?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," He replied sincerely, "What is it?"

"Um," Kyleigh cleared her throat, "I've never had a boyfriend or been on a date. People never wanted to be near me even though everyone took health class and knew that HIV wasn't easily spread if you were careful. It didn't help that I was rarely in school and moved around a lot."

Jasper nodded, not getting where she was going with this.

"My point is I've never been kissed," Kyleigh finished, "I'm 19 years old and I've never been kissed." She blushed and looked down.

Jasper nodded again, still confused.

"It's just…I think it'd be a damn shame to die as a human without ever being kissed," Kyleigh mumbled, staring intently at her knees.

"So you're saying that your last wishes are chocolate and getting kissed?" Jasper concluded.

Kyleigh nodded.

"I don't think we can haul another human in here to kiss you, Ky, that might add some complications."

"I wasn't implying that, Jasper," Kyleigh said exasperatedly.

"Oh, but…" Jasper trailed off as he realized what she meant, "Oh. Kyleigh."

Kyleigh gnawed at her lip, studiously avoiding looking at him.

"Ky," Jasper ran his hand through his hair awkwardly, "I can't, I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine, I get it." Kyleigh said, still looking away from him.

Jasper grabbed Kyleigh's shoulders and turned her around then tilted her face up to his, "Kyleigh, this is like before when I said I couldn't change you. I don't have the self control."

"I'm not asking you to bite me!"

"I know, but…when you're one of us, you're going to understand that just the scent of the blood pumping under your skin drives us mad. I've done really well so far, but I think it'd be pushing it if I kissed you."

"Just try, Jasper," Kyleigh begged, "Please?"

Jasper tilted his head back in frustration and shut his eyes, "This is risky," He warned her.

"I'm gonna die either way, so who cares?" Kyleigh said, trying to sound blasé.

"Okay…okay," Jasper brought his head back down, "I need you to close your eyes though."

"This isn't gonna be like that fish thing, right?" Kyleigh asked, shutting her eyes.

"…what fish thing?" Jasper's eyebrows knitted together.

"The whole: 'oh, close your eyes while I go get a fish and make it kiss you' thing!" She explained.

"You…are whacked," Jasper laughed, "No, I'm not going to make a fish kiss you, I promise." He cupped her face gently in his hands, watching her for a moment. He shut his eyes in concentration as he listened to her heart start pounding blood through her body more quickly. As slowly as possible, he brought his mouth down onto hers, trying to touch her as lightly as possible. He prayed she wouldn't try to move because he knew he had to be in control in order for this to work. As soon as his lips brushed against hers, his entire body reacted and that urge to kill he hadn't felt until now began pouring through him. Jasper broke away and flew to the other side of the room, cradling his head in his hands to keep himself calm.

Kyleigh's eyes flew open, "Oh my God, are you alright?" She half-yelled.

Jasper nodded, still holding his head, trying to get a grip on himself, "I'm okay, I'm alright…" he muttered.

"Okay, maybe that was a bad idea," Kyleigh mused, not really feeling bad because she'd finally gotten kissed. Somebody had finally looked past her illness and kissed her. _Who cares if he's a vampire?_ She thought wildly to herself_, _too thrilled to even care that he was probably only doing it to be nice.

Jasper, on the other hand, finally realized something that had been so blaringly obvious, he'd missed it; He'd finally gotten over Alice and now he wanted her, the girl from the emergency room, Kyleigh, "I'm doomed." He said to himself, too quietly for her to hear.

_Ooh, I know, it's coming back…_

Carlisle told Trudy that he arranged for Kyleigh to be cremated and that they could have a little memorial service at a later date. Thankfully, Trudy didn't question where Kyleigh's body had gotten to so quickly. After a quick conference with Esme over Kyleigh's condition and how she'd been dealing with her new home, he went upstairs and knocked lightly on her door.

"Come in," Kyleigh called.

Carlisle entered and smiled at her, "Well, you look so…relaxed."

"Your wife had me take a bubble bath," Kyleigh grinned, "And apparently I've got a new wardrobe."

"She's been enjoying her last meal," Esme, who had come up and was leaning against the door frame, said.

"Oh sure, you'll eat for Esme, not for me," Carlisle pretended to look hurt.

"Esme gave me chocolate," Kyleigh replied, holding up her dish of chocolate mousse, "Much better than hospital sludge."

"Ah, well, that's healthy." Carlisle laughed, looking over at Esme who shrugged.

"Hey, it's my last wish," Kyleigh stuck her tongue out at him.

"That is true," Carlisle sobered slightly, "When would you like to do this, Kyleigh?"

"As soon as possible?" Kyleigh raised her eyebrows, "Wasn't that the plan? Considering the whole AIDs, tuberculosis, impending doom thing?"

"I know, but I thought I'd give you a choice. We could do it later on tonight or we could wait till the morning. Tomorrow night at the latest."

"I think tonight is the best plan. I mean, it feels great to be free from the hospital, but honestly? I'm starting to feel…sick. Like not in the typical way. Like in the weary, tired of living, feeling sick kind of way." She licked the spoon clean.

"Alright. So tonight?" Carlisle double checked. When she nodded, Carlisle turned to Esme, "We'll have to get ready. I'm going to need Jasper and Emmet to go for a quick hunt now so they're in control."

"What can I do?" Esme asked. She and Carlisle left Kyleigh to finish her chocolate and went downstairs.

"For the time being, I want you to stay with Kyleigh. I'm afraid that she's going to finally realize what's about to happen and lose it."

Esme nodded. Rosalie was standing nearby, "Can I do something?"

Esme and Carlisle looked surprised; Rosalie had never exactly been helpful about this sort of thing before.

"I suppose you could go in and talk to her too, Rose. Maybe get to know her a little."

"Since she's going to be your new sister and all," Esme added, "It might be a great idea for you two to get to know each other."

"Alright." Rosalie said, "I figured you might need me for something. I'll go introduce myself now, I guess." She went up the stairs. Carlisle and Esme looked at each other and shrugged then told the boys to go hunting to prepare for the night.

Rosalie leapt lightly up the stairs and paused in the door way of Kyleigh's room, watching the girl idly flip through a book. As always, Rosalie took stock of the girls appearance: despite the obvious signs of a person with prolonged illness (skinny, pale, circles under eyes, etc), she was pretty attractive with long, slightly wild auburn hair (much like Ashlee Simpson's).Rosalie would bet her…after life that when Kyleigh finally looked up and realized she was standing there, she'd have green eyes because all red heads, even semi-red heads, have green eyes.

Kyleigh glanced up then looked at her book again then did a double take and jumped, "What is with you guys and the sneaking around?" she demanded.

Rosalie smiled apologetically, "Sorry, I just didn't want to disturb you. May I?" She gestured to come in. Kyleigh nodded and she glided over to the girl and sat down across from her, "I'm Rosalie, Emmet's wife."

"I'm Kyleigh…the human," She giggled, "But you knew that already."

"True, word travels fast around here," Rosalie was pleased to note that she had been right, although Kyleigh's eyes were more of a turquoise-y green than a bottle green, but whatever, she would still make a beautiful vampire, "I've been sent to get to know you."

"There's not much to know I'm afraid. I don't remember much of my life before I got sick…I don't remember much of my life after I got sick either…I think the whole disease thing messed with my head," Kyleigh admitted.

"There's nothing wrong with that, the not remembering thing. It will be less to miss," Rosalie looked away.

"Believe me, there isn't much about my life right now that I'm going to miss. I'm going to die pretty soon whether I become a vampire or not. Jasper already talked to me about some of the stuff that I'd miss out on, like having kids, but I wouldn't be able to have them anyway. I won't be missing out on anything in this life…sorry, I'm becoming redundant and this is getting a little too serious for me." Kyleigh yawned.

"Don't worry about it," Rosalie assured her, "I don't mind, but maybe I should let you get some sleep…rest up for the big change." Rosalie stood up.

"Hey Rosalie?"

"Yes?"

"Do you remember it? Changing?"

"Vividly." Rosalie sank back down again, "I had wanted to die when Carlisle found me and I thought it was some twisted joke that I had to be tortured so when all I wanted was death. Believe me, it's not a pleasant experience."

"Why did you want to die?" Kyleigh quickly added, "If you don't mind my asking."

"Let's just say I was betrayed by a man I thought loved me and left bleeding in the streets. I had wanted to die rather than face the shame of going home and telling people what happened. During that time, it was all about pride and appearance."

"All of you are a lot older than you seem, aren't you…" Kyleigh realized.

Rosalie nodded, "Carlisle's from the 1600s, I was 1933 and Jasper's from the civil war era."

"Wow…so all of you were around for major historical events…you guys must have done really well in school."

"You have no idea," Rosalie retorted, thinking of the number of times she'd been forced to suffer through high school, "Get some rest. I'm going to send Esme up now to watch over you for a little while."

"Where are the others?" Kyleigh asked sleepily as she crawled back to her bed. When her knees began shaking from the effort of holding her body up, Rosalie reached over and gently guided her the rest of the way to the bed.

"Jasper and Emmet are hunting. I'm not sure where Carlisle went. Go to sleep, all of this will be over soon."

"Thanks Rosalie," Kyleigh replied, already half gone. Rosalie just nodded and quietly left the room, beckoning for Esme to take over.

"How'd it go?" Esme whispered in passing.

"I think I'm going to enjoy having a new sister," Rosalie smiled then skipped down the steps to wait.

_And I say ooh, oh Lord…_

Hours later, Emmet and Jasper were flanking both sides of Kyleigh's bed while Carlisle knelt over her.

"Are you sure you're ready, little one?" He asked quietly, examining the pulse points on her throat.

Kyleigh nodded, not trusting her voice to respond verbally.

"Would you like for me to warn you before I do it or not?" Carlisle offered, poised and ready.

"No, don't. Just do it, please," Kyleigh whispered, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Okay, just relax," Carlisle soothed, looking up at Jasper and nodding at him. Jasper unleashed his manipulations on her. Carlisle glanced at Emmet, who positioned himself over Kyleigh as well, ready to hold her down if need be. Carlisle took one last look at Kyleigh's human form then leaned over and bit down on her neck as fast as possible.

Then all Kyleigh felt was pain…

_It's driving me mad_

**Can I just say, Emmet makes me giggle and I'd love to have one in my life. Kyleigh too makes me laugh. Please keep the reviews coming, they make my day so much nicer! More to come, I'm half way through writing chapter 8 already. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you so much for my reviews! Some of my vampire information may be inaccurate, so please suspend disbelief for me. Anyway, I own nothing, but my darling Kyleigh.**

"It's been 3 days, shouldn't she have woken up by now?" Rosalie asked, sitting next to Kyleigh's bed.

"Everyone is different," Carlisle reminded her for the hundredth time; he'd been answering these sorts of questions from Rosalie, Jasper and Esme for the last day and a half; Emmet was the only one who didn't seem concerned.

"It's like one of those butterfly things, Rose, it takes time," Emmet grinned at her. He was leaning against the door frame.

"One of those butterfly things?" Rosalie rolled her eyes at him, "Honestly."

Jasper ignored them, holding Kyleigh's hand just like he had been since Carlisle had stepped away from her days previous. He liked to pretend that she hadn't screamed because of his presence, but then again, Bella hadn't screamed either. The only reaction she'd had was a bit of writhing at the beginning and Emmet had been there to keep her still. Esme had said over and over again that if she moved, it would hurt more, not that Kyleigh could hear her at the time.

"She must be close to waking up at this point," Esme murmured, perched at the foot of Kyleigh's bed with Carlisle rubbing her shoulders, "She might be able to hear us."

"Give her time, guys," Carlisle replied, "She'll wake up when she's ready."

Jasper brushed his fingers over her wrists, feeling her pulse still hammering through her narrow veins, "I think she's going to wake up soon," He said suddenly, "I can feel it in her pulse. It's moving quicker, that means it's close to the end, right?" He glanced at Carlisle briefly.

"Yes. So, we still know the plan. Right?"

"Jasper and I are gonna take our new sis hunting," Emmet grinned, looking forward to a new hunting partner.

"But first, Carlisle is going to examine her,' Esme reminded him, "We don't know what state she'll be in."

"I feel pretty useless right now," Rosalie sulked.

"We invited you out with us, babe." Emmet said, "You said no."

"I'm not too keen on hunting with a newborn," She replied, "I guess I'll just get rid of that God awful sick bed," She eyed the bed Kyleigh was lying in with disgust, "I know we don't use our bedrooms…often," She gave Emmet a quick smirk, "But still, this place needs some work."

"And I'll be at the ready for whatever she needs," Esme finished, "Hopefully, all she'll need is hunting and not any emergency medical care or something."

"Do you think she'll be a beast like Bella?" Emmet asked, looking at Kyleigh's bony body.

"I can't be sure," Carlisle replied slowly, "She might be fine, but there's an outside chance she'll be very weak. At least until her human blood has left her body."

"I bet she has some crazy power like Jasper and Edward," Rosalie laughed, carefully keeping Alice out of her list, "Oh and Bella, I suppose."

"Like what?" Emmet snorted, "She didn't display any special traits as a human."

Jasper glared at him, hissing lowly.

"What, dude?" Emmet stared at him, "It's true."

"Boys," Esme said warningly, "Kyleigh will be special regardless of whether she has powers or not."

"Maybe she would have had some special quirk had she not gotten sick. Carlisle, how did she get sick?" Rosalie asked, realizing he'd never told them.

"Dirty blood transfusion," He replied shortly, "She was 12, so you might be right, Rose, maybe her illness kept her from reaching her full potential."

They all fell silent, watching Kyleigh's unmoving body.

_Right then behind my lies, some scratch lashing out…_

Kyleigh could hear them, but it was like she was trapped under water; or, more accurately, trapped under lava because that's the only way she could describe the burning that was bubbling under her skin. Thankfully, it was fading to more of a dull throb now, but earlier it had felt like someone had skinned her then dumped salt over her exposed flesh. Now she knew what Rosalie had meant when she said she'd wanted to die.

She wanted desperately to tell Emmet to fuck off, she'd definitely be able take him. She wanted to thank Rosalie for saying she'd get rid of this bed. But most of all, she wanted to talk to Jasper, to make him realize how much he meant to her, how much she appreciated his holding her hand throughout this whole ordeal.

Suddenly, Kyleigh's heart started pounding, so hard that she feared she was having a heart attack and would die despite their efforts. Then, just as suddenly, her heart went still and a new burn sizzled inside of her, aching, thirsting. _Blood…_Kyleigh thought, and it was like her entire throat had been rubbed raw, the way that it was pulsating. Her eyes flew open and now she knew what Bruce Willis had meant by _The Sixth Sense_.

Jasper saw her wake up first, "Hey," he murmured, "How are you doing?"

Kyleigh looked at him, seeing the true beauty of his face for the first time, "I think I'm alright."

Rosalie moved out of Carlisle's way so the doctor could examine her, "Kyleigh, can you sit up?" He asked gently.

Kyleigh sat up quickly, expecting a head rush that never came, "Oh wow," She laughed, looking at all of them, taking in everything she'd missed before, "Everything's so…clear."

"How do you feel?" Carlisle asked, watching her carefully.

"Aside from the fact that I'm in dire need of…blood…" she'd have to get used to that idea, "I'm doing great! Can I get up?" She swung her legs off the bed and stood up.

"Easy there," Carlisle laughed, "I just want to make sure you're alright."

"I'm great!" Kyleigh insisted, dancing away from him.

"Kyleigh," He said sternly, "Sit down."

She pouted and sat back down again, glancing at Jasper in frustration.

Jasper smiled and leaned down to her ear, "Humor him," He whispered.

Kyleigh grinned at him; if she had a heart, it would be fluttering. How had she not noticed his smooth as honey, southern accent before?

"I've received permission from Esme to destroy some property," Carlisle held out a small table to her, "Crush this."

Kyleigh stared at the table then at him, "Okay…?" She reached over and squeezed the table until it snapped, some of it turning to powder in her hands.

"Good," He nodded encouragingly, "Now this," He handed her a relatively small rock.

Kyleigh crushed it with one hand.

"And this?" He handed her a larger piece of cement.

With difficulty, Kyleigh managed to snap it in half.

Carlisle kept his expression smooth while Esme and Rosalie glanced at each other worriedly, "I bet you're very thirsty," he said calmly.

Kyleigh merely nodded, though her facial expression was clearly shouting 'duh!'

Emmet grinned and stepped forward, "You ready, small fry?"

"Oh please, everyone knows that size doesn't really matter," She retorted, getting to her feet again, "Are you my chaperone?"

"No, he is," Emmet pointed to Jasper, "I'm just along for the ride."

Jasper smiled at her and she took his hand, "Easy there, Ky," He winced slightly, "You're a bit stronger, remember?" It was obvious to Carlisle that Jasper was exaggerating this so Kyleigh would feel better; he made a mental note of it.

"Oops, sorry," She giggled, "I'm used to being the weakest link."

"Okay, okay, enough talking, let's move!" Emmet said impatiently. Kyleigh grinned and the three of them ran out of the room, quick as lightning.

As soon as they were gone, Esme rounded on Carlisle, "She's not strong enough to do this."

"She's plenty strong," He assured her, rubbing her shoulders gently, "She's just not as strong as she could be…and that's not necessarily a bad thing."

"What if she gets hurt?" Esme asked worriedly, glancing out the window, "What if she's too weak to hunt? We should've brought her something instead of sending her out there so soon."

"Esme, sweetheart, it's okay," Carlisle soothed, "The boys won't let anything happen to her."

"Oh I know…" Esme shook her head, "I just don't want her to get hurt."

"Did you see the way Jasper watched her for the last 3 days?" Rosalie spoke from where she stood still next to the bed, "He would never let anything harm her. Ever."

"He does seem quite protective of her, doesn't he?" Esme replied knowingly.

"And now that she's bloodless, he'll probably be even more 'protective' of her," Rosalie let out a rather un-Rosalie like giggle then clapped a hand over her mouth.

Carlisle and Esme exchanged small smiles then Esme sighed, "Okay Rose, let's get to work on this room. It smells like death in here."

"And human," Rosalie added, already stripping the sheets from the bed, "Wash or burn?"

"Burn," Carlisle decided, "I doubt we'll need them again and I'm sure Kyleigh might see them as a reminder of her illness."

"What should we do with the bed?" Esme asked, helping Rosalie ball the sheets up.

"Donate it, I guess," Carlisle shrugged, "We'll get her a couch."

"Or a bigger bed, you know, just in case," Rosalie said quietly to Esme so Carlisle wouldn't hear, thinking of the big bed in her room and smirking wickedly.

"I think a bed is a great idea," Esme agreed, "Couches are so cramped."

"Why do I feel like you guys are implying things I don't want to know about," Carlisle called over his shoulder, half way out the door. The two women began laughing and Carlisle nodded, "That's what I thought." The girls looked at each other then started laughing again.

_I'm trying to hold you, but you don't want to know…_

Hours later, Esme and Rosalie were sitting in their 'living' room, watching a movie. Carlisle had made sure that the fire was out then had gone back to work. "I wonder if I should be worried that they've been gone for so long," Esme mused.

"Like I said, Jasper's with her, she's probably fine."

"I'm more worried for Emmet and his pride. I bet she out-hunts him," Esme smiled jokingly.

Rosalie laughed her tinkling laugh, "I would love to see that happen."

"Love to see what happen, babe?" Emmet asked, swinging in through the open window.

"Nothing," She smiled at him, "How'd it go?"

"Kyleigh is," He began, but then Jasper and Kyleigh swung into the room as well, Kyleigh wearing Jasper's sweater.

"Kyleigh is…?" Esme raised her eyebrows at Jasper in his under shirt.

"A beast," Jasper finished, looking strangely proud.

Kyleigh gave a very un-beastly giggle.

"Dude, try to look more ferocious," Emmet teased, sitting down with Rosalie on the couch.

Kyleigh tried to make a mean face, but everyone laughed at her so she gave up, "I feel better now," She sang lightly, skipping over and sitting by Esme's feet.

"I'm sure you do. What happened to your shirt?" Esme asked, smoothing Kyleigh's long, wild hair with her hands.

"She's a beast," Emmet reiterated, "She just…attacked that elk…I've never seen anything like it."

"I ripped my shirt in my…excitement." Kyleigh explained, "Jasper, southern gentleman and all, gave me his sweater."

"Ah," Esme couldn't quite imagine little Kyleigh being an animal, but she figured Kyleigh probably felt the same way about her, "Well, that was nice of you, Jasper."

Jasper bowed his head modestly, "I wasn't going to let her frolic around half naked."

"Which I appreciate greatly," Kyleigh laughed. Jasper surreptitiously winked at her and if she'd still been human, she would have blushed.

"So there weren't any problems?" Esme asked casually.

"Actually, there were," Kyleigh pouted, "Emmet stole my last deer."

Rosalie and Esme subtly sagged with relief that it wasn't a serious problem.

"Jerk," Rosalie reached up and hit Emmet upside the head, "Ladies first."

"Jasper, maybe you should teach your brother some manners."

Jasper snorted and shook his head, "We've been together for awhile, I think if my manners were to rub off on him, they would have done so by now."

"Jasper, come sit," Kyleigh patted the ground by her side.

Jasper paused for half a second then shrugged and crossed to her, throwing himself down on her other side. They turned their attention to the movie, Rosalie keeping a hand over Emmet's mouth to keep him quiet. After awhile, Kyleigh dropped her head lightly onto Jasper's shoulder. She didn't know if vampires were supposed to get tired, but she was exhausted, it had been a very long day.

**So what did you think? Kyleigh's finally a vampire, yay! Believe me, there is drama to come, I'm working on chapter 9 right now. It certainly gets interesting. Anyway, please review, I need your feedback. Thank you!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you for my reviews! I own nothing, but my dear Kyleigh (though God do I wish I owned Jasper…even if just for a night). Happy reading!**

In the days following Kyleigh's transformation, Carlisle and Jasper kept a close eye on her, fearing some sort of relapse. Esme, on the other hand, kept an eye on Rosalie, to the point that finally the blonde asked out of pure exasperation what the matter was.

"What on earth are you staring at me for?" Rosalie resisted the urge to glare at her mother.

"Well, it's just, I'm surprised at your behavior, that's all," Esme replied calmly.

"What do you mean 'my behavior?'"

"I mean your behavior towards Kyleigh and her decision to become one of us and everything. You weren't exactly forthcoming towards Bella,"

"Oh…well, I may have been a little harsh on Bella," Rosalie admitted unwillingly, "But this is different. Bella had her whole life stretched in front of her. She wasn't dying like you and I and Kyleigh were, she wasn't taken by surprise like Jasper was, she just chose this way of life, if you can even call it that. My problem with her was that I didn't approve of her just sentencing herself to this," At Esme's hurt expression, Rosalie crossed the room and put a hand on her arm, "It's not that I don't love you and everything you and Carlisle have provided for me, it's just sometimes I wish I weren't immortal. That I could grow old with Emmet, you know? I can understand Kyleigh's point of view because it's not like she was going to have much longer on this earth anyway. Plus, I find Kyleigh to be much more likable in general," Rosalie finished, turning away and continuing her search for an old Django Reinhardt record Jasper had been looking for.

"That makes sense, I suppose. Though I don't know what you mean by Bella not being as likable as Kyleigh, but oh well, you're entitled to your opinion," Esme shrugged then glanced around, "Are you sure we even own this record?"

"Jasper insists that we do," Rosalie said over her shoulder, sifting through their record collection. Esme shook her head wearily and knelt down next to Rosalie to help her look.

Meanwhile, Jasper and Kyleigh were quite literally up a tree. "This is so amazing," Kyleigh murmured, staring around at the panoramic view of the forest, "Everything is so…alive."

Jasper mumbled an agreement, staring at her rather than at the trees. Despite the fact that Kyleigh was still as pale as she was before her big change, she looked so much more alive than she had previously; the irony definitely didn't escape Jasper as he thought this. Of course, they'd all known that she would become 'beautiful' like the rest of them, but Jasper hadn't been fully prepared for the new attraction he felt for her. He wasn't exactly sure if it was because of her looks or because she no longer had any blood in her to tempt him, but she was suddenly so irresistible, he sometimes had problems concentrating on what she was saying. Like, for instance, now.

"Jasper," Kyleigh sang, snapping her lithe fingers in front of his face, "Are you alright?"

Jasper shook his head quickly, "Yeah, I'm good," He nodded, clearing his throat. To his slight dismay, she didn't seem to reciprocate his feelings. It wasn't like he'd planned on falling in love with her; though looking back, he realized that feeling was there all along, otherwise he wouldn't have gone through the trouble of saving her.

"Good, because I really want to go for a hunt," She concluded, already jumping from branch to branch, making her way to the ground. She was still weaker than a normal newborn, but Carlisle and Jasper worked hard to make her believe that she was just as strong as the rest of them.

"Alright," Jasper laughed, following after her, "You certainly enjoy it, don't you?"

Kyleigh paused, "It might sound bad, but I like being in charge of something…I spent most of my life careening out of control and it's nice to have some for once."

"That's not bad at all," He reassured her, "Do you want me to get Emmet?"

"Nah, I never get to spend any time alone with you," Kyleigh lightly touched his arm, "Let's go!"

Jasper grinned at her for a second, then the two of them took off into the woods, racing each other and laughing the whole time.

_I'm so cheap…_

"When will my eyes stop being red?" Kyleigh asked him hours later. They'd hunted and Kyleigh had almost managed to get through it without ruining her shirt, but her final attempt at a mountain lion had done it in so yet again, she had on Jasper's shirt. This time, though, he was walking around shirtless and Kyleigh kept giving his bare chest surreptitious glances.

"Not for awhile, darling," He drawled, enjoying the feeling of holding her small hand in his as they wandered through the dense trees, "Eventually your eyes will fade to black then gold, although they're looking a little black right now since you've eaten."

"Really?" Kyleigh smiled happily, "I really don't like the red eyes thing…and it's not even like there's a button to correct it like you can do when editing photos," She pouted comically.

"You'll get over it, dear," Jasper gave her a bemused look, "Just like you'll get over the fact that I so killed that lion for you."

Kyleigh gasped, "Did not! I so had that thing!"

"Which is why it had you pinned to that rock," He teased, "So glad you were in control of the situation."

"Oh honestly, I was planning on flipping him over, but then you had to be the hero and jump in," She kicked at him lightly.

"Fine, next time I'll let the lion take a nice bite out of your throat," He pretended to be serious.

"Good," She nodded in satisfaction, "Well, not good cause I don't want that to happen, but you know what I mean," She giggled.

Jasper decided that he wouldn't tell Carlisle about this; _it could have happened to any newborn_, he reasoned with himself, _she just lost focus for a second. She would've been able to fight him off without my help._

"God Tex, you're like a million miles away today, tell me what's going on," Kyleigh pulled him to a stop.

"Just thinking about your red eyes and how they match your hair," He lied.

"Okay first of all, you're lying and second of all, my hair is not red! It's auburn."

"Same thing," He insisted.

"Men know absolutely nothing about hair," Kyleigh grumbled, "And you're avoiding my question. What are you thinking about?"

"Don't worry about it," Jasper shook her off and began walking again, "Just boy things."

"You're still lying," Kyleigh quipped, "Let's do something exciting."

"Because tackling 3 elk and almost getting killed by a mountain lion isn't exciting at all," Jasper rolled his eyes.

"I've spent so much of my life doing nothing, I want to do stuff now!" Kyleigh swung their arms around.

Jasper winced, "Ky, you're gonna pull my arm out of my socket,"

"Oops," She said sheepishly, resisting the urge to swing it again, "Sorry."

Jasper didn't mind; he was happy that she seemed to be getting stronger, maybe, "Maybe we should go find Emmet, he can always come up with something 'exciting.'" He suggested, tugging her in the other direction.

"You know what would be fun?" Kyleigh mused, dancing along behind him.

"What's that?"

"Handcuffing ourselves together," She giggled lightly.

Jasper stopped and stared at her, "I know there's an age difference between us, but regardless of what year we're in, that doesn't sound fun at all."

"No sense of adventure," Kyleigh grumbled.

"I've had my fair share of adventure, Ky, believe me."

"You still haven't told me your story," Kyleigh pointed out, "We could forego Emmet in lieu of a story," She suggested hopefully.

"It's not a pleasant story," He warned her.

"None of your stories have been. Carlisle was attacked, Rosalie was betrayed, Emmet was mauled and Esme tried to kill herself," She rambled, "Oh and I almost died of AIDs, so I'm not an exception."

Jasper smiled humorlessly, "Do you really want to know?"

"Duh," She rolled her eyes at his drama.

Jasper led her over to a tree bent out of shape and sat on one of the branches. Kyleigh clambered after him and sat down as well then looked at him expectantly. Jasper locked eyes with her, keeping his gaze steady as he methodically worked his way through his history. He kept his eyes on hers as he told her about Maria and about the newborns and then meeting Peter and Charlotte. To Kyleigh's credit, she only winced once or twice when Jasper went into a delicate detail; he continually had to remind himself that not everyone had a military state of mind. She didn't speak at all the entire time he recounted his tale and stayed silent for a good 10 minutes afterwards, staring at him, "So…?"

"So…what?" Jasper furrowed his brow.

"So how'd you meet the Cullens?" Kyleigh asked like it was the most obvious question in the world.

"Oh," Jasper faltered slightly then said, "That's another story for another day," He stood up.

"Jasper!" Kyleigh whined, getting up and grabbing his arm.

"Kyleigh," He imitated her, "I thought you wanted to do something exciting,"

"I thought you'd had your fair share of excitement," She shot back, glaring at him.

Jasper watched her for a second then burst out laughing, "I'm sorry, darling," He drawled, "But even with the narrowed red eyes, I still can't take you seriously when you're angry," He started walking.

Kyleigh groaned in frustration and trailed after him, "You're not nearly as scary as you think you are, you know," she said.

Jasper looked at her in surprise, not knowing what to say.

"Don't think I don't have you figured out Jasper…whatever your last name is."

"Cullen?" Jasper suggested lightly.

"But you were Whitlock…then Hale…now Cullen…the scariest part about you is your impending identity crisis," Kyleigh determined.

Jasper threw his head back and laughed.

"But really, you're not scary at all. I mean, look at you, you're giggling like a…lion cub?" Kyleigh eyed his blonde hair.

"Lion cubs giggle?" Jasper asked once he'd stopped laughing, still grinning stupidly.

"Well, you know what I meant," She shrugged, "You just need to…relax," She nodded.

"Kind of hard when I'm fielding everyone else's emotions," He reminded her, taking her hand again as they wandered through the woods some more.

"True. So, what am I feeling?" She teased, "Can you feel me?"

"Kyleigh, I can _always_ feel you. And basically everyone else," He added the second part quickly.

Kyleigh felt frustrated that for every half step she took towards making her feelings known, he would take 6 steps back without even realizing it. Instead of saying this, however, she said: "And you don't even have to know the person?"

"Nope," Jasper shook his head, "Why do you think you're even here right now? I felt you when you came into the room and after that, your emotions kind of overwhelmed everything else which is why I caught you when you passed out. Your emotions were the only ones I could feel and I guess I had a premonition…Or just a lucky guess," He picked up a rock with his free hand and threw it as hard as he could; they couldn't see it because of its speed, but they did hear the loud crunch of it snapping a tree in two.

"Oh," Kyleigh took this in, "So I took over your mind, huh?" she bumped him lightly with her hip.

"Sweetheart, you took over everything," He corrected, shooting a side glance at her.

Kyleigh was more than thankful that she couldn't blush anymore, because otherwise she would've looked like a tomato with a hefty sunburn, "Wow. Well, I don't really know what to say…I hated you for a few days," She admitted.

"Okay, so I tell you that you took over my senses, and you say that you hated me, how is this fair?" Jasper asked exasperatedly.

"Oh please, Tex, you've always said you don't like feeling other people's emotions, so I'm not sure if I'm supposed to take that as a compliment or see it as a hardship."

"Point taken," Jasper dropped it.

"Though I obviously came around," Kyleigh said meekly a few moments later, "I'm here with you now, right?"

Jasper grinned at her, "I'm irresistible."

"With that Texan accent, I could see why some people would believe so," Kyleigh stared at the trees.

"'Some people?' Don't deny that you think it's sexy," Jasper said.

"I'm not into southerners," Kyleigh said, trying to sound aloof.

"Every girl loves a southern gentlemen," He corrected, "Esme told me so when I came to the family."

"Esme also says that _before_ you were never this light hearted and sure of yourself," She changed the subject, "I don't know what she means by the _before._"

"I'm assuming she means _before_ I met you," Jasper evaded, knowing what Esme actually meant. _Alice…_It shocked him that her name no longer burned to think anymore. He snapped out of this reverie when Kyleigh stomped on his foot.

"What the hell, Jasper?" Kyleigh waved her hands in front of his face again, "Focus, man!"

"I'm sorry, were you saying something?" He flexed his toes lightly.

"Oh for God's sake," Kyleigh muttered, turning and walking away.

Jasper quickly caught up to her, "Race you back to the house," He murmured in her ear.

"You're on," Kyleigh grinned and the two of them took off, merely blurs in the background.

**Again, thank you for the feedback and story alerts; it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to get reviews. So I'm working on chapter 10 and it certainly gets interesting. Please keep up the feedback so I know what you like and I'll update soon. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you for the feedback! Yup, I own nothing, but Miss Kyleigh. **

"Now watch and learn," Emmet murmured under his breath, only audible to their supersonic hearing. He paused then was off in a flash, tackling the grizzly to the ground like it was a rabbit and paralyzing it. Kyleigh moved out from behind the tree, partly drawn by the smell of blood and mostly drawn by the beauty of Emmet's hunting. It almost disturbed her, how much she enjoyed killing other animals. It had been a few weeks since her rebirth and she was fairly certain that this thrill wasn't just based off her thirst anymore. Emmet wrestled a few times with the grizzly before finally killing it and feeding happily, "It's all about timing," He called to her, blood glistening on his chin as he spoke.

"Emmet, you got a little on your face," She teased.

Emmet smirked and wiped his face clean, "It's pretty hot to watch a man take on a bear, right?" He rolled the bear's carcass of the cliff then bounded over to her.

Kyleigh shrugged, "Sorry, you're not my type."

They began walking, "No, you're more into the strong and silent type," He winked.

"No, I'm into the type that's not obnoxious and loud like you," She retorted, sticking her tongue out at him then froze.

"What?" Emmet asked, his tone instantly shifting into worry mode, "What is it?"

"I hear something…" She murmured, her body tensed for attack.

"Something as in an animal or as in a human?"

"Sh," Kyleigh swatted him with her hand irately, "It's an animal, definitely, I can smell it," She slowly turned on her heel with her eyes closed then was off like a rocket.

Emmet shook his head wearily and raced after her just in time to see her do an impeccable tuck and roll, pulling the moose with her and deftly snapping its neck without even waiting for her venom to kick in. Emmet grinned in satisfaction and leaned against a tree while she devoured the poor animal. When she was finished, Emmet sauntered over to her, "Nice form."

"It's pretty hot to watch a girl take down a moose, right?" She parroted him.

"Well, it certainly never gets old," He eyed the blood on her shirt, "Someday, you'll be able to hunt without needing to change afterwards."

"Hey, I took on that elk without causing any harm to my clothes," She pointed out, leading him through the woods again.

"True, I guess you are growing up," Emmet pretended to cry, "You kids just grow up to fast!" He wailed.

Kyleigh rolled her eyes and giggled, "Drama king."

He abruptly stopped 'crying,' "I resent that."

"So sorry, darling," Kyleigh replied, "Come on, we promised Rosalie we'd be back early today."

"You think you can keep up with me?" Emmet asked cockily, getting ready to run.

"Baby, I know I can," She smirked then, without verbal communication, they both took off back to the house.

_You're trying to hurt me, but I won't let you go…_

"She's definitely getting stronger," Said Jasper to Carlisle as they walked around the Cullen house.

"Yes," Carlisle nodded in agreement, "But she's still not quite as strong as I'd like."

"She's got about the same strength that you or I have."

"At times it wavers though," Carlisle pointed out, "Like when we went hunting the other day; she was ferocious when she nabbed her elk, but when she went for that bear…" He broke off and shook his head.

"Her strength shouldn't have holes in it," Jasper said, looking frustrated, "It should be steady."

"Her blood was so weak when we changed her though," Carlisle reminded him gently, "I'm actually surprised that she is as strong as she is, all things considered."

Jasper was about to respond when Kyleigh and Emmet came running out of the woods, whooshing past them.

"I'm glad we have her," Carlisle smiled, "Gives Emmet someone to play with."

Jasper laughed, "I think Rosalie appreciates it as well; now he has someone to go do outdoors-y things with. We should probably go make sure they were just having fun and not trying to kill each other."

"You go ahead, I have to go back to the hospital," Carlisle patted Jasper on the back and walked around to the garage.

Jasper made his way back into the house where Emmet and Rosalie were dancing. Or at least Jasper was guessing that's what they were doing. It looked more like Emmet was trying to bend her into a pretzel, but Rosalie was laughing so Jasper figured she didn't mind. "Having fun?"

Emmet paused, holding Rosalie up in the air, "Always," He winked then continued thrashing around.

Jasper raised his eyebrows at Rosalie who shrugged and said, "If it makes him happy. Besides, he promised me I could take apart the engine of his Jeep later."

"I did not," Emmet insisted, dipping her wildly, "You didn't even ask if you could touch it, you're just assuming that it's fine since we're married."

Rosalie gave him a dazzling smile, "Maybe that's true, but you love me so you don't care."

Emmet paused and gave her his usual dimple-filled grin, "Of course," he kissed her softly.

Jasper sighed and turned away from them, feeling an old stab of loneliness he hadn't felt in awhile. He went up to his room, looking at the blank walls and solitary couch pushed against the wall. Jasper crossed to his wardrobe and pulled out a crumbled piece of paper then threw himself onto the couch and slowly unfolded it.

_Jasper,_

_ I'm so sorry to do this to you because I know how much you love me and I know that you see me as your reason for existing, but I'm not, I'm sorry, I'm really not. I can't explain this right now, I may never be able to explain it, but there's someone else and I have to leave to make room for them. Please, please, stay with Carlisle and Esme, you'll need them more than I will. _

_ This sounds stupid, but I'm doing this because I love you. Maybe someday you'll understand what I mean. Stay safe. _

_Alice_

Jasper balled the letter up again and threw it into the corner then cradled his head in his hands. He'd tried to leave the Cullens at first, but Esme had basically guilted him into staying and now he realized that he truly did need her and Carlisle and everyone else. For the last 5 years, he'd lived in a fog, blindly following his family as they moved from Forks to West Virginia for a little while then back west to Oregon where they now resided. Edward, Bella and Renesmee had gone with them to West Virginia, but they'd decided to alternate between visiting family in Washington and living in Montana. Jasper sat back and leaned his head against the wall behind him, shutting his eyes and wishing, not for the first time, that he could sleep.

Kyleigh had abandoned Rosalie and Emmet and gone up to her room. Esme and Rosalie had had a lot of fun decorating it. She now had a huge bed and a bunch of Johnny Depp posters on the wall that wasn't covered in CDs. She also had tons of Christmas lights strung across the ceiling and gauzy curtains in her window. Though her window wasn't a floor to ceiling window like some of the others in the house, it was still large and it kind of freaked her out and she was grateful towards Esme and Rose for putting some sort of blind in it.

She tried to sit down and write in her diary, but since she'd changed, her entries had been short due to the fact that she wanted to take advantage of her newfound energy; she had an entire eternity to write in her journal, she figured she deserved to take a writer's break. _Clearly, I'm not getting anything down today,_ Kyleigh thought to herself, putting the book down and dancing down the hall, past Emmet and Rosalie's room to Jasper's slightly open door. She peeked her head around the corner and saw him sitting there then snuck in and sat down at his feet.

He cracked open one eye and gave her his lopsided smile, "Hi."

"Hi!" Kyleigh replied brightly, "What are you doing?"

"Thinking," He replied, closing his eyes again.

Kyleigh finally noticed that his hands were balled into fists and cautiously reached out and placed her hands over his, trying to relax them. Eventually, he opened his fingers up and she laced hers with his. They sat still in only the way a vampire can do so, holding hands all the while. Kyleigh found herself thinking about the kiss; she often found herself thinking about that kiss when she didn't have something else to occupy her mind. She wondered if it would feel as good as it had back when she'd been a human…or if it would feel worse? Or better? She just wondered period. She wanted to ask him how he felt; she wanted to ask him if he could literally feel what she felt when she was around him. _He's an empath _she reminded herself, _he must feel this._ "What are you thinking about?"

Jasper stayed silent for a long time and Kyleigh assumed he was ignoring her then he said, "The past."

"Which part? There's a lot of past when it comes to you."

"True," He conceded, "Kyleigh, what the hell are you doing on the floor?" He'd finally opened his eyes and realized she was still at his feet.

"Just hanging," She shrugged, "I like to perch more than I like to sit."

Jasper rolled his eyes at her and pulled her up and into his lap then repositioned her so she was next to him.

"You could've just asked," She glared at him.

Jasper smiled at her, "Where would the fun in that be?"

She crossed her red eyes at him, "So, you were saying something about your past?"

"Just about the whole thing in general," He dropped his gaze into his lap, looking at their entwined hands, "Sometimes I just wonder about the concept of do-overs."

"And what would you do over?" Kyleigh asked quietly.

Jasper smiled without mirth, "I don't really know. I was changed even though I was just doing what I was trained to do: get the women out. If I could, I guess I'd just fast forward and meet the Cullens, skip everything else."

"But then they would've been screwed a few years ago with the newborn thing," Kyleigh leaned against him, "As horrific as it was, that training helped a lot."

"Oh I know," Jasper shrugged, moving Kyleigh with him, "It's just an interesting idea."

"I suppose," Kyleigh didn't know what else to say.

"Kyleigh?"

"Hmm?"

"You've never been in love, right?"

"Jasper, didn't we kind of go over this when we covered the whole never had a boyfriend, never been kissed thing?"

"I suppose, yeah," Jasper chuckled, "My bad."

"I'm hurt you've forgotten about the kiss," Kyleigh tried to say jokingly.

Jasper shook his head, thinking _if only she knew_, "It's not that I forgot, there's just been a lot of other things going on," He nudged her lightly, "Remember, the whole turning you into a vampire thing?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Kyleigh glanced out one of his stupid floor to ceiling windows, "Dude, look at the rain!"

"Dude," He mimicked, watching her instead of looking at the window.

"As a vampire," She began in her 'this is probably going to be a stupid question' voice, "what happens if I get struck by lightning?"

Jasper snorted, "Probably nothing, unless you catch on fire, but even then I think you'd be okay since it'd probably be raining…why?"

"I've always been afraid of thunderstorms," She admitted, "I was just curious if I'd be immune to them or not."

"How can you be afraid of thunderstorms? They're outside!"

"They're loud and obnoxious! Like Emmet!" Kyleigh giggled, thinking of the conversation she'd had with him earlier.

Jasper laughed, "You're such a nice person, Ky."

"I know," She replied flippantly, "It's why you love me."

Jasper froze for half a second then realized she was kidding, "Oh I love you now, do I?" He asked, slowly moving into a crouch.

"Of course you do, everyone does," Kyleigh looked over at him, "Oh no, oh no, what are you doing?"

Jasper sprang forward so he was half on top of her then leaned down to her ear, "Run," He whispered then grinned.

Kyleigh shrieked and ducked out from under him, flying out of his room and down the stairs with him right on her tail. She blew past Esme, who was just walking in the front door shaking rain out of her hair, and tumbled down the steps, barely breaking stride. Esme stepped out of the way to allow Jasper to fly past her and after Kyleigh then smiled happily to herself, "Yes, definitely love," She concluded, shutting the door behind them.

Kyleigh whizzed past trees, ducking and weaving to avoid Jasper as he swiped at her; he was merely a tall, blonde blur in the moonlight and she was both frightened and awed by his beauty. Kyleigh dove between his legs then bounced off a few trees, but Jasper had anticipated her move and somehow ended up on the branch above her.

"Surrender," He growled, trying to look menacing (and, in Kyleigh's opinion, succeeding).

"Never," She replied dramatically, glanced down to see how far away the ground was.

"Are you sure?" He raised his eyebrows seductively.

"Definitely," She nodded, getting ready to drop, but before she could do so he threw himself at her and the two of them fell through the branches. Kyleigh was about to scream when Jasper landed on his feet with Kyleigh in his arms. He was grinning at her, satisfied that he had scared her so. Kyleigh thought to herself _two can play that game_ and wiggled free of his arms then tackled him to the ground, landing on top of him with a thud. She smiled triumphantly, "I win." She crowed.

Jasper snorted and flipped her over, "Sorry, ma'am, I'm stronger than you," When Jasper worked hard, his southern accent became more pronounced; it made Kyleigh's knees weak.

Kyleigh tried her damndest to pin him back to the ground then finally gave up, "I thought you guys said newborns were strong," She complained.

"Ah, but I am the newborn master," He reminded her gently, "I'm an exception."

Kyleigh dropped her head back onto the ground, "Ew Jasper, I'm all wet now."

"That's the price you have to pay," He shrugged.

"Hey Jasper?"

"Hey Kyleigh," He asked wearily. They played this game a lot.

"Am I weak?" She asked casually.

"Uh," Jasper propped himself up on his elbows.

"The truth, please," She requested.

"You're not weak, Kyleigh," He insisted, "You're just not quite as strong as most newborns. That's not a bad thing," He assured her.

"That's what I figured," She sighed, "I could so take you though."

Jasper took in her body trapped under his, "Our position begs to differ,"

Kyleigh struggled against him, "It's not my fault you're fat," She teased.

Jasper pouted, "I am not, take that back!"

Kyleigh giggled, "Only if you admit I could take you!"

"Women are so conniving," he muttered, "Fine, oh mighty Kyleigh, you could totally take me," He said in a monotone.

Kyleigh grinned triumphantly, "Then I rescind my statement that you are fat. I'm fairly certain that vampires can't get fat because they're supposedly so perfect and beautiful and blah, blah, blah."

"What do you mean 'supposedly?'" Jasper asked incredulously, "Have you not looked in a mirror since you changed?"

"Uh…actually…no," Kyleigh realized, "I've been a little preoccupied."

"Jesus, Kyleigh, so you have no idea how beautiful you are?" He was so shocked, he went slack and Kyleigh flipped him over so she had him pinned to the ground.

"Does it matter what I look like?" She shrugged, propping her elbows against his chest, "The important part is I'm not dying anymore."

"Well, yes, I know that," Jasper murmured, "I'm just surprised that Esme and Rosalie haven't shoved you in front of a mirror yet."

"I kind of thought I wouldn't have a reflection," Kyleigh admitted embarrassedly.

Jasper roared with laughter, "You silly girl, you honestly believed that?"

Kyleigh glared at him, "Don't make me bite you."

Jasper tried to control himself whilst using his little gift to make her forget her anger.

"Ugh, no fair, Tex!" She hit him lightly, "No more emotion controlling!"

"Would you rather stay angry?" He stretched and put his arms behind his head.

"No," she admitted grudgingly, "But it's not fair that you have that advantage and I have no gift at all."

"I think your hunting skills are probably your gift," He pointed out, "Besides, not everyone has a power," He reminded her.

"You and Edward do. And in a way, so does Emmet because of his strength and Rosalie because of her beauty and Carlisle and Esme because of their kindness."

"And you because of your beastliness." He concluded, "Plus, you're just as attractive as Rosalie."

Kyleigh snorted, "I doubt that."

Jasper pounced forward and knocked Kyleigh off of him so she was lying on the ground; he had her hands pinned above her head, "Wanna bet?" He murmured.

Kyleigh completely lost her train of thought, his face was so close to hers, his topaz eyes locked on her black ones, "Um," She shook her head, "Stop doing that!" she snapped.

"Doing what?" He whispered, lowering his mouth so that it was a centimeter from hers.

"Distracting me," She breathed, sighing when his mouth finally closed onto hers and her mind went blank. Like before, Jasper felt a wild rush of emotion coursing through his stone cold body, but now his desires had nothing to do with killing her; no, now his desires were awakening feelings he hadn't felt in 5 years and they scared him.

Kyleigh was fighting against his hands, wanting to run them down his back, wanting to cling to him. Jasper realized what she was trying to do and released her hands, bringing his down and cupping her face, using his knees to keep from putting all of his weight on her. Kyleigh sighed again and trailed her fingers down his neck, over the contours of his chest she could feel under his thin t-shirt. He trembled under her light touch and finally pulled away and rolled off of her. Kyleigh instantly missed the weight of his body on hers and in the back of her mind mused that all those studies about people needing pressure to feel safe were true.

Neither of them knew what to say, so they chose to stay silent and after a few minutes, Jasper wordlessly reached over and pulled her against him.

"Esme's going to be mad at us," Kyleigh whispered a little while later, still staring up at the canopy of trees over their heads.

"What for?" Jasper furrowed his brow, looking down at her.

"We've soaked our clothes and I think we're covered in mud," She pointedly reached up and pulled some muddy leaves out of her hair.

"Oh…crap…" Jasper chuckled, "Maybe we can distract her."

"How?" Kyleigh sat up, now shaking water out of her hair, "I sneak in while you dress in drag and do the hula?"

The _Lion King_ allusion was lost on Jasper, but the idea was comical nonetheless and he was smiling when he replied with, "No, with this," He sat up as well and tilted her chin up then pressed his lips against hers softly.

"Ooh," Realization dawned on Kyleigh and she pondered this for a few minutes, "That might work, but at some point, she'll note our muddy footprints."

"Not if we climb in through a window," Jasper suggested, twirling a lock of her hair through his fingers.

"That's a good idea!" Kyleigh loved to climb trees, "One problem: are our windows open?"

"Damn," He muttered, "Guess we'll have to take it like men."

"Or we spray ourselves with the hose, then when we get to the door, take off our shoes and make a run for it."

Jasper looked impressed, "Alright, worth a shot," he pulled her up with him then they grabbed hands and darted through the dark woods.

After a lot of screaming (mostly on Kyleigh's part), the pair had managed to hose the mud off their clothes and were trying to get out of their soggy shoes. Jasper rolled his eyes at Kyleigh when she fell over from the momentum of hauling off her shoe, "Honestly, Ky, vampires are supposed to be graceful," He laughed as he helped her to her feet.

"I'm an enigma," She replied coolly, tossing her sopping hair in his face.

"I'm going to get back at you for that," He warned her in a low voice, growling quietly.

"Cause attacking me worked so well last time," She giggled, stepping back as Jasper pulled the door open.

"Actually it did, I got the girl, didn't I?" He smiled at her.

"Seriously, was that all planned?" Kyleigh shook her head, "How Garry Marshall of you."

"Who?"

"You haven't seen Pretty Women?" She looked aghast.

"I don't typically partake in watching your silly modern movies," He shrugged.

"That is so going to change. You will watch Pretty Women and Runaway Bride and Steel Magnolias…though I don't think that was a Garry Marshall film…but regardless. Julia Roberts is in it, so there."

Jasper didn't know how to respond to this so he just nodded.

"I can't believe in your…however many years you've been kicking around for…years, you haven't seen those. You'll like Steel Magnolias, it's about southern women."

Jasper snorted, "What makes you think I like southern women?"

Kyleigh shrugged, "Most southern men want a southern steel magnolia, don't they?"

Jasper laughed, "I'm with you now, aren't I? You aren't southern."

"Oh yeah…well, regardless, you'll like it. Tom Skeritt's in it along with Sally Field."

Jasper pretended like he knew who those people were, "I look forward to it."

"Liar," She poked him in the chest then they bounded up the stairs to dry off and change.

As they were going back down the stairs together, Kyleigh now lecturing him on his lack of education on Johnny Depp, there was a knock at the door. Everyone looked at each other in surprise then Esme crossed to the door and opened it cautiously. Jasper, Kyleigh, Rosalie and Emmet heard her gasp and they all went into the foyer to see who was there.

Rosalie gasped as well and Jasper froze. "Alice…" He said weakly, staring at the dark haired girl standing in the doorway, grinning at them.

**Please keep reviewing, I love getting those e-mails. The story is going to take an interesting turn in the upcoming chapters so keep reading and reviewing =0) **


	9. Chapter 9

**Wow, thank you for the alerts and reviews! Anyway, here's chapter 9, I own nothing, but Ky. **

Alice stepped into the room and threw her arms around Esme, whispering something Kyleigh couldn't make out. Then, in turn, she hugged Rosalie and attempted to hug Emmet before setting her eyes on Kyleigh, who was standing just behind Jasper, "Hi, I'm Alice, you must be Kyleigh," She skipped across the room and hugged her as well.

Everyone stood and stared at her in shock. Esme recovered first, "Alice, honey, I didn't know you were coming back."

Alice released Kyleigh, "I wasn't planning on it either, but then I wanted to see if everything worked out," she smiled warmly at Kyleigh, "Jasper, I'm so happy for you," She finally looked at him and realized he was glaring at her, "What?"

"Alice, why don't we go sit down," Esme suggested breezily, taking the raven haired girl by the elbow and leading her into the living room, leaving the other 4 still standing in the hallway.

"Wow," Rosalie said finally.

Emmet nodded in agreement, not finding anything to say.

Kyleigh looked between all of them, "I'm confused. Who was that?"

Rosalie glanced at Jasper, "You didn't tell her?"

"Tell me what?" Kyleigh stepped around Jasper, "What is it?"

Emmet rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, "I think I'll go in there…" He mumbled, holding out his hand to Rosalie. She ignored it and he shrugged, going into the living room as well.

"I was going to, I just couldn't find the right time," Jasper was barely moving his lips.

Rosalie narrowed her eyes at him, "You mean you left out half of your story?"

"Guys!" Kyleigh half-yelled, "What's going on?"

"I didn't think it mattered, I didn't think she was coming back," Jasper sank down onto the steps behind him.

Rosalie huffed at him, "Be a man, Jasper," She hissed then turned on her heel and left.

Kyleigh stared after her then sat down next to the blonde, "Now will you tell me?" She asked quietly.

Jasper nodded wearily, "Her name is Alice, we were married for a long time," He decided to get that part out quickly, not looking at Kyleigh, "After I gave up my old…lifestyle…she found me. Apparently she'd been waiting for me. Alice can see the future, sort of, and knew I'd be there eventually. After we united, she brought us to the Cullens, because she'd seen them too. After that, we lived with them until…" He sighed.

"Until?" Kyleigh prodded tightly.

"She left a note saying she had to leave because there was someone else. That's when we decided to move. Of course, I wanted to die because I thought she was my soul mate and she didn't agree, and I tried to leave the Cullens, but Esme talked me into staying and I'm glad I did." He looked over at her. Kyleigh was fidgeting with her hands, "Ky, believe me," He said quietly, "I'm happy now."

"You could've told me," She replied, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"I know," He broke off, "I just figured if she was gone for good, it didn't matter. She betrayed me, deeply."

"So there are no…feelings?" Kyleigh double checked.

"Oh there are feelings," He replied, "Just not the ones you need to worry about. I'm going to go see what she wants." He stood up and held out a hand to Kyleigh, but she shook her head.

"I need some time to…process today."

Jasper nodded then stooped down and kissed her forehead. After he disappeared around the corner, she stood up and padded to her room, pulling out her diary and beginning to write.

_I'm so cheap…_

"So then I went to Egypt and discovered that camel doesn't taste good, at all," Alice gave a delicate shudder.

"Why would you go to Egypt?" Carlisle, who had apparently come home through the garage, asked, "It's a little bright there."

"There's actually a pretty decent colony there; of course, they thrive by night, but that's not too bad. It just got to be a little boring, hiding all day so I tracked you guys down," She smiled at them again.

Rosalie was standing against the wall with her arms crossed, clearly not pleased at Alice's return. Emmet was standing with her, though he seemed to have forgiven his 'sister.' Esme and Carlisle were sitting with her on the couch. All were still confused about her return.

"Alice," Carlisle said finally, "Why did you come home?"

"Not that we aren't happy to see you, dear," Esme said quickly.

"Oh," Alice seemed put out that she hadn't been completely welcomed back, "Well," She sighed, "I need to talk to Jasper first."

Rosalie scoffed for Kyleigh's sake and left the room.

Alice and Esme looked at each other; Rosalie had never had a problem with her sister before.

"Let's talk, then," Jasper said in a low voice, stepping into the room.

Alice got to her feet and the pair went outside, perching on the back steps with a reasonable distance between them.

Emmet made to go after Rosalie, but Esme told him that it would be best to let her be for a little while. Instead, Carlisle, Esme and Emmet put their heads together and began rapidly discussing this new turn of events.

Meanwhile, Rosalie knocked lightly on Kyleigh's door then went inside. Kyleigh was sitting cross legged on her bed with her earphones on. When she saw it was Rosalie, she pulled the buds out of her ears and patted the bed, inviting her to sit.

Rosalie perched her perfect body next to Kyleigh's, "It doesn't mean anything," She assured her confidently.

"I know that," Kyleigh played with her bed spread, "That's not what's bothering me…well, it's bothering me that she's back, but that's not the real problem."

"The fact that he didn't tell you is bothering you, right?" Rosalie checked. When Kyleigh nodded, Rosalie cautiously put an arm around the smaller girls shoulder, "Jasper is a guy. Not only is he a guy, but he's ex-military. It's a pretty deadly combination because guys in general don't broach tough topics of conversation and military men only say what they believe is needed to be said. And I know he needed to tell you that," She cut Kyleigh off before she could say anything, "But, as I'm sure Jasper said, none of us expected her back."

"What _is_ she doing back?" Kyleigh asked finally, staring out the window through the gauze.

"I'm not sure," Rosalie admitted, "Carlisle just asked her, but she said she wanted to talk to Jasper first."

"Carlisle's home?"

"Yup. He came in through the back," Rosalie explained.

Kyleigh nodded then rested her head against Rosalie's stiff shoulder, "It's just my luck that the day I finally get a boyfriend, his beautiful ex comes home."

"Wait, you mean he finally did it?" Rosalie gently pushed Kyleigh away to stare at her.

"Yeah…" Kyleigh mumbled.

"When?" The blonde demanded.

"Literally like an hour ago, if that," Kyleigh sighed.

"Wow," Rosalie repeated her sentiment from earlier.

"Indeed," Kyleigh agreed. Then the two fell silent.

_Ooh, I know, it's coming back…_

Jasper stared resolutely at the trees, waiting for Alice to start talking.

"Jasper," Alice began then stopped, "Look, I know that my note was," She broke off again, "I had to leave," She said simply.

Jasper snorted and shook his head.

"I did," She insisted, "Think about it: I left and another girl came along. I said in my note that I'm not your soul mate. Do you believe that now?" She raised her eyebrows.

Jasper begrudgingly nodded.

"Good. I had to leave the note as vague as possible. Think about what it said, think about what I wrote to you," She was trying to lead him to the conclusion.

"You said you had to leave because there was someone else," He said dully.

"Right," She nodded, hoping he would get it.

"So, who is he?" Jasper asked, half-interested.

Alice groaned, "There isn't anyone else!" She said exasperatedly, "Not on my end!"

"So you lied?" Jasper finally looked at her, anger filling his topaz eyes.

"No, Jasper, think about it!" Alice stood up and began pacing in front of him, "I said there was someone else and I had to make room for them so I left. I said that you only _think _I'm your soul mate."

"No, you said that I only see you as my soul mate," Jasper corrected.

"It's the same thing," She said flatly, "And that's beside the point: put it all together, Jasper."

Jasper thought for a few minutes, "Wait…Are you saying that…?" He trailed off and stood up as well, "You're saying that you saw someone else for me?" He clarified slowly.

Alice nodded.

"So you left to make room for this new girl and not for you…" Realization dawned on him, "Kyleigh," He whispered, then looked at her.

Alice smiled sadly and nodded again, "How do you think I knew her name when I came in the door?"

"You saw Kyleigh," He repeated, "And you left so I would find her. Oh, Alice." He murmured, turning to her.

"And you did, you found her," Alice said in satisfaction, "Just like I saw." Her smile faltered, "So now do you see why I had to leave?"

"Alice," Jasper whispered again, reaching for her hands, "I'm so sorry."

She stepped into his arms briefly, allowing his scent to flow through her then she shut her eyes tightly and stepped back, putting a smile back on her face, "It's not your fault," She shrugged, "Now do you see why you had to stay with Carlisle? You wouldn't have met her if not for him."

Jasper was still watching her sadly.

"Hey, no pity," Alice hit his face lightly, "It's fine. It means that we weren't meant to be, doesn't mean we can't be friends. I just need to be on the lookout for my actual soul mate now."

"Then why did you see me originally?" Jasper raised his eyebrows, "If we weren't meant for each other?"

Alice shrugged, "Maybe we were at the time; I think we needed to save each other. I saved you from your past, you saved me by coming with me to the Cullens. If not for them and Bella, of course, I would have no idea about my history. Maybe we were just stepping stones for each other to find our true selves," she finished sagely.

"You've had a lot of time to think about this," Jasper gave her a half smile.

"5 years, to be exact," Alice grinned, "Can I meet her now?"

"Wait, first, are you staying?" Jasper grabbed her arm.

"I'm not sure," Alice admitted, "Honestly, I started back when I saw that you had changed her and when I saw that you'd made up your mind about today, I hurried up because I wanted to meet her."

"I'm sure Esme would take you back," They walked towards the house.

"Oh I know. I'm not sure about Rosalie though," Alice frowned, "She's changed."

"She's very protective of Kyleigh," Jasper explained, "They got along from the start. I think Rosalie decided to act the way she believed Kyleigh should have acted. Once you explain everything to them, it'll change."

"I'm glad she fits in," Alice said sincerely, "I was afraid it'd be like Bella all over again, but I had faith that she would be accepted."

"She gets along well with all of us, I think you'll like her,"

"I know I will," Alice and Jasper smiled at this strange new truce and went inside.

_And I say ooh, Lord…_

Alice tentatively knocked on Kyleigh's bedroom door and waited for a muted 'come in.' When she opened the door, she saw Rosalie and Kyleigh sitting on the bed, leaning against each other.

When Rosalie saw Alice, she stood up, "I'll leave you two to talk then."

"No, wait," Alice said, crossing over to her and sitting on the opposite side of the bed, "I want you to hear this, too."

Rosalie glanced at Kyleigh who shrugged, then sat back down and crossed her arms. Alice took a moment to collect her thoughts then launched into her story; she told the other two women about her vision and her heart wrenching decision to leave. She explained that the only way to make Jasper understand would be to go away because then he'd be too angry at her to think about moving on before Kyleigh came. She said that she'd been waiting for a sign that Carlisle had met Kyleigh and that she had been changed and she told them that the only reason she came back was so they would understand her reasons for leaving.

When she was done, the three sat in silence for a long time, then Rosalie said, without looking at Alice, "I'm sorry."

Alice smiled at her, "Apology accepted," She shrugged, "I should've figured you guys would hate me for what I did, but at least now you understand. Right?"

Rosalie nodded. Kyleigh gave Alice a small smile, "Thank you," she said simply.

Alice took Kyleigh's hands and squeezed them gently, "You're welcome."

"So have we kissed and made up?" Emmet asked. Apparently, he'd been listening by the door for some time.

"Well, I don't know about the kissing, but they did make up," Kyleigh laughed.

"Good. Because now Esme wants to know how long you're staying for," Emmet told Alice, "So you should probably all come downstairs and join the…dead…" He smirked.

Rosalie got up and took his hand then they went downstairs. Alice got up and said to Kyleigh, "I'm sorry. I didn't think it through that Jasper would be upset when I came back…though I was upset that he didn't tell you about me," Alice looked hurt and Kyleigh realized how much all of this must have affected Alice.

"Alice, I'm so, so sorry that it didn't work out for you guys," Kyleigh gushed, getting up as well and walking with her through the house.

"Oh, it's alright," Alice shrugged, "It happens. I'll find my actual soul mate; he's out there somewhere. It's just a matter of looking in the right places," She smirked and tapped her temple, "That's how I originally found these guys. I'll just have to work harder now."

"You should stay with us," Kyleigh suggested, "This is your family, you deserve to be here."

"No, I don't think so," Alice shook her head, "It's a little too painful for me to be here now." She gazed at Jasper for a moment, "You know?"

Kyleigh followed her line of vision, felt a pang of possessiveness then pushed it aside, "I understand," Kyleigh replied, "It'd make Esme happy though."

"I think it'd be too difficult to stay too long. I'll visit, but I don't think I can live here."

Esme heard that last part and looked upset, "Alice, honey, of course you can live here."

Alice delicately shook her head again, "No, I can't, it'd be too much."

"But where will you go?" Esme crossed the room and took Alice's hands, "Where will you stay?"

"I've been travelling all over. I'm learning quite a bit about the world," Alice replied, "I just came back to meet Kyleigh and make sure that all of this worked out," She watched as Jasper subtly placed a hand on Kyleigh's shoulder and squeezed it, "And it did."

"Not for you," Carlisle murmured, going over to stand next to Alice.

"It will," Alice said confidently, "I'm sure it will."

"When do you plan on leaving then?" Esme asked, "Surely you can stay for a little while."

Alice looked at her old family; Rosalie and Emmet, holding hands, Carlisle and Esme crowded around her and Jasper and Kyleigh, obviously in love; everyone paired off, but her. _What a lonely way to live,_ she thought of Edward and how he'd lived that way for so long, "I'm sorry, Esme," Alice whispered, "I'm leaving in the morning, I was planning on booking a flight to Montana to go visit Edward and Bella anyway."

"Well, maybe we all could go," Esme suggested, desperately wanting her daughter back.

"No," Carlisle said, eyeing Alice, "Esme, this is her decision; let her make it," He leaned down and kissed Alice's forehead, "You're always welcome with us."

"Oh, I know I am," Alice smiled, "And I appreciate everything," She assured Esme, "But I miss Bella, I haven't seen her in awhile…I owe her an explanation as well."

After that, Esme filled Alice in on everything that had happened with Edward, Bella and Renesmee in the last few years then Emmet told her all about his and Rosalie's latest wedding and they promised that if they had another one ("please, God, no," Jasper had groaned), she could help plan it. All the while, Alice sat on one side of the room, and Kyleigh and Jasper sat on the other.

Kyleigh found herself fascinated by Alice, who was so full of zest. She was envious of Alice's gift and of all the places she'd been to. She listened with rapt attention as Alice described her adventures in Scotland, the few days she'd spent in London, the months she'd spent in Paris during fashion season. She was practically green with envy when Alice talked about the night life in Barcelona. It seemed that in the past 5 years, Alice had basically gone everywhere and done everything and finally, Kyleigh realized that Alice's eyes were a reflection of her own envy. Now Kyleigh knew that Alice had done all this travelling because she was still looking for love and that broke Kyleigh's theoretical heart. The two women looked at each other with the understanding in their eyes that only one of them could be in that house because otherwise they both would suffer; Kyleigh from guilt and Alice from longing.

Eventually, Alice grew quiet and they sat in a semi-comfortable silence. Emmet and Rosalie pulled out a deck of cards and began playing poker with Carlisle. Esme pulled out her sketch book and began working on her latest drawing (of Kyleigh, not that Kyleigh knew about it. Esme had drawn various pictures of every family member). Jasper slipped into one of his reveries, staring into space. Hours passed quickly for once. Normally, nights dragged forever, but Kyleigh figured today was a special case. As the sun was lighting the clouds far off in the distance, Alice got up and went outside, where a fine drizzle was starting. Kyleigh paused then followed her.

"Hi," Alice smiled at Kyleigh when she drew up alongside her.

"Hey," Kyleigh said shyly.

"I know what you're going to say," Alice teased, "And no, don't even think about it."

"I thought Edward read minds," Kyleigh frowned.

Alice gave a tinkling laugh, "He does, but I could see what you were planning. It was very foggy since you hadn't actually made a decision, but I got the gist of it and no, don't."

"We could leave, you could stay," Kyleigh insisted, annoyed that everyone else had special powers.

"Nope. You're too young to travel, give it a few more years. Besides, I'm the one who needs to be roaming, since I'm a bachelorette and all," She pointed out.

Kyleigh was chagrined, "Right…never mind," She mumbled, turning to go inside.

"I appreciate the thought, though," Alice squeezed her hand then froze, her eyes going blank.

"Alice?" Kyleigh asked, looking alarmed. When Alice didn't respond, she waved a hand in her face and said her name louder then shouted for Carlisle who came running, "She just froze," Kyleigh fretted.

The others had followed and recognized what was going on.

"It's alright, Kyleigh, she's just having a vision," Esme soothed, coming down and standing with Kyleigh and Alice.

"Oh," Kyleigh laughed in relief.

"Did you think you'd broken her or something?" Emmet snorted. Rosalie stepped on his foot and he grimaced.

Carlisle was watching Alice intently, waiting for her to snap out of it. Suddenly, Alice's eyes came back into focus and she gazed at Carlisle, looking puzzled, "Who are Helen and Harold?"

Kyleigh and Carlisle glanced at each other, the others looked confused.

"Why do you want to know?" Carlisle asked slowly, "What did you see?"

"They're angry, they're on their way to the hospital. They want to talk to you, Carlisle," Alice furrowed her brow, "Who are they?"

"My parents," Kyleigh whispered, staring at Carlisle in shock, "Oh my God…"

**Just as a side note: I didn't want Alice to be the total bad guy though it changes a bit in later chapters so I decided to do a little cop out, but there's still plenty of drama to be had so keep reading and reviewing! I'm so glad so many of you love my story and I agree with you guys, there isn't enough Jasper love out there. More to come =0) **


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you as always for the feedback, here you go! I own Kyleigh, nothing more, nothing less.**

Jasper recovered first, "I thought they abandoned you," He had already moved to her side without Kyleigh even noticing and taken her by the arm, leading her out of the rain.

"They did," Kyleigh whispered, "Oh my God," She said again. Jasper supported her over to a chair and helped her sit down then knelt in front of her, holding her hands.

"What are we gonna do?" Emmet asked, already gearing up for some sort of battle.

Rosalie sank into the chair across from Kyleigh, "Is there anything we can do?"

"Run," Alice said quietly, "Get out of here. Kyleigh and Jasper can go somewhere, Carlisle can come up with ashes and an urn, hold a memorial service."

"Do you know what they want?" Esme asked, also sitting at the table, looking stunned.

"Blood," Alice replied, "Not literally, of course, but they're not happy that they weren't notified."

"It's their own damn fault," Rosalie said angrily, "Maybe if they'd actually have been good parents, then-"

"I'd be dead, I wouldn't be with you guys," Kyleigh finished sadly.

The Cullens fell silent, listening to the rain.

"Alice's idea is the only way," Jasper broke the quiet, "We can get out of here until this blows over."

"Where will you go, though?" Esme knitted her brows together, "And how? It's not safe for Kyleigh to be near humans yet."

"Drive to Washington or somewhere, really anywhere."

"They could go stay with Edward and Bella," Emmet suggested.

"No, no, I don't want to bring this to them," Kyleigh shook her head, looking at Alice who nodded her thank you; Kyleigh wasn't going to subject Alice to being with Jasper longer than she had to.

"If you leave now, you can probably get somewhere before morning,"

Kyleigh raised her brows, "Uh, how?"

"By car," Carlisle said then added, "We drive fast."

"Oh," Kyleigh shrugged, "We'd need to find a place to stay."

"Go back to Forks," Rosalie said quietly, "Our house should still be there, if you're careful, no one will know."

"Don't you think someone might have bought that place by now?" Emmet asked.

They all looked at Alice who shut her eyes for a few minutes, "It's basically abandoned, but delinquents like to go smoke up there so…" She sighed.

"Okay, well, we're just outside Portland right now, right?" Rosalie said then continued without waiting for an answer, "So I'd say you could stay in Oregon as long as you got far away…I mean, it's not like they're going to track you down, you just can't be here."

They considered her logic then Jasper said, "We need to find the least populated and cloudiest city in Oregon."

Rosalie was already off to one of their laptops, beginning to search, her fingers flying over the keys, "Astoria, Oregon: just under 10,000 people with 240 cloudy days a year. It's a 2 hour drive."

"For a human," Emmet smirked.

Esme and Jasper were already to their feet, packing suitcases. Rosalie grabbed a GPS and entered in directions then began looking for a place for them to stay. Carlisle sat down next to Kyleigh and tilted her chin up gently with his finger, "It'll be over soon, little one. You guys can go on a quick vacation, we'll get this sorted out and you can come back again."

Kyleigh nodded though she didn't look convinced, "I don't get why I have to run, though. Are they really going to search the house?"

"Probably not," Carlisle admitted, "But just in case, it'll make me feel better if you're not around. Besides, they've got human blood in them, I don't think you're quite ready for it yet." Carlisle turned to Alice, "Did you happen to see when they were coming?"

"Soon," She replied vaguely, "I can't get a good grip on time for them. I think they're on their way to Portland right now."

"We have to hurry," Carlisle murmured.

Kyleigh got to her feet and ran upstairs, helping Jasper and Esme bring down the bags. Rosalie booked them a hotel room for a week, "I told them it was your honeymoon," She whispered to Kyleigh then winked, "They're more apt to leave you be that way."

Kyleigh laughed, "Gee, thanks, Rose."

"Take the Veyron," Carlisle tossed Jasper the keys.

"No fair," Emmet pouted like a child, "You've never let me touch that thing."

"There's a reason we bought you the tank," Esme teased, "Jasper's a much better driver than you are."

"We're going to need proof that we had her cremated," Jasper reminded Carlisle, already back at Kyleigh's side.

"Rosalie?" Esme looked at the blonde who turned back to the laptop and began typing again, "She's excellent at making certificates," She explained to Kyleigh.

"What about the ashes, Carlisle?" Alice asked, leaning against the wall, feeling like a stranger.

"Esme and Emmet can burn some furniture or something and I'm sure we have a vase we can use." Carlisle took the freshly printed 'certificate' and smiled at Rosalie, "Thank you."

"We need to go," Jasper murmured to Kyleigh, who nodded sadly.

"Don't worry, honey, this will be over soon and you can come back to us," Esme gave her a quick hug as did Rosalie.

"Good luck, dude," Emmet said to Jasper.

Kyleigh turned and hugged Alice quickly, "Thank you," She whispered then she grabbed the other suitcase and she and Jasper started towards the garage.

"Stop," Alice said suddenly, freezing in place. Everyone turned back to her and waited for her eyes to refocus, "They're on their way here," she said rapidly, "They must've gotten the address from the hospital. They want to press charges." Alice finished, looking horrified.

"How long?" Jasper asked briskly.

"They'll be here within 10 minutes," Alice whispered.

"Let's go!" Kyleigh said, grabbing Jasper's arm, "We have to move now!"

Jasper was eyeing Carlisle; he didn't even feel Kyleigh's touch, "What do we do?" he asked.

"Go," Esme urged.

Carlisle shook his head, "They're leaving could be pointless, plus I feel like they'd notice a Veyron whiz past them from this direction; most humans aren't stupid."

Kyleigh and Rosalie snorted, "Hello, they only kind of abandoned me," Kyleigh reminded him.

Carlisle ignored the girls, still watching Jasper, "So you're thinking that you guys can hide here?"

"I don't see the point in running…as long as Kyleigh doesn't get a whiff of them and they don't see her, then it shouldn't be a big deal," Jasper said, using his official military voice.

"He's right," Alice agreed, "The house is big. Keep them in the living room, the rest of us can go hide."

"We're wasting time," Emmet grumbled, always looking forward to a challenge, "We need to move."

Kyleigh nodded in agreement with Emmet, "I'd feel better if we could get out of here."

"This is one of those times when I wish we'd actually built a guest house," Esme sighed then began ushering her children out of the room, "Carlisle and I will stay up here and talk to them, you guys can…just get as far away as possible, but close enough that we can find you."

The 5 of them nodded and raced through the house and down the stairs.

"Should we wait outside?" Kyleigh suggested.

"In the rain?" Rosalie scoffed, "No way."

"Can't get our hair wet," Emmet teased; Kyleigh admired him for being able to joke around at a time like this.

Rosalie ignored him and led the others down a hidden door and into the basement.

"Whoa…" Emmet muttered, looking around, "Since when does this exist?"

"Since we moved here," Rosalie replied, turning on an old fashioned lamp to reveal a room filled with vintage furniture; it was a little musty, but nothing unmanageable, "Esme kept meaning to come down here and redecorate, but it kind of fell by the wayside."

Kyleigh ran her fingers along the tassels of the shade on the lamp, "It's perfect."

Emmet threw himself down on the couch, causing an eruption of dust to engulf him. Rosalie waited for it to settle then sat down next to him. Alice perched on an old cushioned chair, staying still and shutting her eyes, watching for their arrival.

Kyleigh crossed over to Jasper and wrapped her arms around his waist; he looked down at her and smiled tightly. She pressed her face against his shoulder and sighed.

"Ky," He murmured.

"Hm?" She didn't look up.

"You are so short," He grinned.

Kyleigh glared up at him, "You're freakishly tall," she retorted.

"I think I'm more of a normal height than you are," He teased, using his power to lighten the mood in the room.

"Oh please, how tall are you?"

"Uh…6'2, 6'3?"

"See? Freak," Kyleigh nodded, resting her head against his chest.

"Oh yeah? How tall you are?"

"5'2…" Kyleigh mumbled.

"See? Freak," He parroted.

Kyleigh stuck her tongue out at him.

"That was mature," He snorted, bringing his hands up to her waist and pulling her against him tightly, "Everything will be okay," He said quietly to her, unleashing another wave of relaxation through the air.

Kyleigh merely nodded, not trusting her voice. She shut her eyes and Jasper stooped down and kissed the top of her head gently. She tilted her face up to his and smiled and he kissed her quickly and softly.

Alice watched them with pain in her eyes then turned away, focusing on what was going on upstairs. Her whole body went rigid for a moment then she turned back to them, "They're here," She told them, not actually focused on the room at all.

Kyleigh's muscles tensed and Jasper rubbed his hands up and down her arms soothingly, "They have no idea you're here," He said lowly.

Rosalie bit her perfect lip and crossed her legs, tapping one of them against Emmet's leg absently. Emmet leaned forward and grabbed her ankle, freezing her leg. "Ooh, sorry," Rosalie said sheepishly, "I thought you were the couch…"

Emmet rolled his eyes at his wife and put an arm around her shoulders, pivoting his legs away from her pointedly.

Kyleigh could feel her hands shaking and balled them into fists so she could stuff them in her pocket; it seemed like days ago that Jasper had kissed her out in the rain. Kyleigh couldn't figure out why her parents thought it was a good idea to come barging into her new house at almost 6 in the morning, but then again Kyleigh had never understood her parents and they clearly had never understood her. She pulled one fist out of her pocket and entwined Jasper's fingers with hers then tugged him over to a love seat to wait.

_Yeah, it's driving me mad…_

Esme moved at lightning speed around the living room, straightening the cushions, trying to make it look like normal people lived here. Carlisle ran upstairs and changed into new clothes then came down and helped Esme pull out things to make tea or coffee, "God, I'm so glad we decided to go grocery shopping that one time," Esme murmured.

Carlisle didn't respond and tensed when a pair of headlights flashed into their driveway. He was about to send Esme into the bathroom when he glanced at the clock, "Sweetheart, you should be in bed," he realized, grabbing her and spinning her around, urging her towards the stairs.

"What?" Esme asked, stumbling under his hands.

"It's almost 6, normal people would be in bed right now," Carlisle explained.

Esme nodded in comprehension and went up the stairs, "I'll come down after a few minutes because I'd probably wake up when they come in."

"Right, and if they ask, I was just about to leave for work," Carlisle finished for her then she ran the rest of the way to their room and closed the door over while Carlisle sat in the kitchen and waited for the doorbell to ring. He listened to the sounds of the car door slamming and counted down from 10 until _ding, ding._ Carlisle paused then went to the door and pulled it open, pretending to look surprised, "Hello? May I help you?"

Harold and Helen Montgomery were opposites; Harold was short and squat, Helen tall and thin. Harold had a thick, steel grey moustache and sparse white hair while Helen had jet black hair pulled back in a severe bun. But that wasn't the ugliest thing about them; they both were scowling, and judging by the way their faces sagged, it seemed that that was the only facial expression they were capable of. It was a wonder Kyleigh had turned out so beautiful and light hearted.

"You're Carlisle Cullen?" Harold wheezed.

"Yes," Carlisle nodded, "And you are?"

"I'm Harold Montgomery, this is my wife Helen," Helen barely inclined her head at him, clearly immune to his good looks.

"Ah. Kyleigh's parents," Carlisle said somberly, "Would you like to step in for a moment?" He moved away from the door and they walked in. He shut the door then led them into the living room, "Would you like some coffee or tea?"

"No, no," Harold replied brusquely, "Let's not pretend like this is a social visit, sit down Cullen,"

Cullen bit his tongue to keep from reminding the man that he was in his house and shouldn't be ordered around, instead complying and sitting across from them, "What can I do for you?"

"Oh sure, now he thinks about what he can do for us," Harold muttered to his wife who nodded stiffly, "I'll tell you want you could have done: you could have called us when you admitted our daughter for treatment and you certainly could have notified us when she took a turn for the worse and you definitely _should_ have called us when she died," Harold's face had turned an unpleasant purple color, giving him the appearance of a plum.

"I was under the impression that you and Kyleigh were no longer in contact with one another," Carlisle responded calmly.

Harold sputtered, not knowing what to say. Helen chose to reply instead, "That may be, but she was still our daughter and you had an obligation to notify her family," She was surprisingly soft spoken for such an imposing woman.

"Kyleigh was 19, a legal adult," Carlisle reminded them.

"So?" Harold burst out, "She was our _daughter_!"

"That didn't stop you from leaving her on her own when she was 14," Carlisle said pleasantly.

"You have no idea the stigma she was leaving on our family," Helen said quietly, "People refused to look at us on the street."

"I'm very sorry, but I don't see how that is justifiable for abandoning your child," Carlisle shrugged.

"We did what we had to do!" Harold roared, standing up, "We were all better off."

"You do realize she was half dead when she stumbled into the hospital, right? Back when she was 14, just a child," Carlisle leaned back, half enjoying the anger he was bringing out of Harold.

"We gave her money," Helen said simply, as if this solved everything.

"Right," Carlisle nodded thoughtfully, "Money to catch a cab; that doesn't make up for the lack of treatment she endured and it also doesn't make up for her living on the streets for a few weeks, freezing in the rain and snow."

"I will not be lectured on how we raised our daughter!"

"Raised her?" Carlisle stood up, "You abandoned her; you gave up. Don't give me these lies about your sacrifices," Carlisle looked frightening, very much like a vampire.

"Honey?" Esme called, "What's going on?" She padded into the room wearing a bathrobe, her hair tousled, trying her best to look like she'd just rolled out of bed.

"Nothing, sweetheart," Carlisle called, not taking his eyes off of Harold.

"Oh, hello," Esme greeted Kyleigh's parents, subconsciously touching a hand to her hair, "I didn't realize we had company…I thought I heard shouting, but I assumed it was a dream."

"Darling, these are Kyleigh Montgomery's parents. Remember, I told you about Kyleigh," Carlisle said.

"Oh yes…" Esme pretended to look sympathetic, "I'm so very sorry for your loss."

Harold was staring at Esme, clearly enamored by her gentle beauty.

Carlisle cleared his throat pointedly and Helen nudged her husband.

"Right," Harold worked himself back up to his anger, "Anyway, as I was saying, we're not here to be lectured on our choices," He didn't shout this time, still shooting Esme surreptitious glances.

"Then why are you here?" Carlisle gestured for Esme to come into the room and they all sat down again.

"We want justice," Helen said in her unsettlingly quiet voice, "We want you to pay for what you've done."

"I'm sorry," Esme interjected lightly, "But what, exactly, did my husband do?"

"He killed our daughter!" Harold glared at Carlisle.

"Whoa," Carlisle held up his hands, "Let's not go that far. I did not kill your daughter. She died of tuberculosis meningitis."

"Right," Harold snorted, "Sure she did. I want proof."

Carlisle and Esme raised their eyebrows at each other, "I'm sorry," Esme said softly, "I know I'm not a medically trained person, but I don't see how we could give you proof…"

"Exhume the body," Helen said sharply, "We want to take her to our own cemetery."

"But didn't they tell you at the hospital that she's been cremated?" Carlisle asked, genuinely surprised, "It was her last wish."

Esme stifled a smile, thinking about how her real last wish had been for chocolate. _Being incinerated…chocolate…almost the same_, she mused.

Helen rose so quickly, Carlisle almost believed her to be a vampire, "You incinerated our daughter without our permission?" She shrieked, "How dare you, you monster!" She lurched forward, ready to attack, but Harold caught her around the middle, staring at Carlisle with a horrified expression.

"You will pay for this," He said quietly, "You mark my words, you will pay."

"It was her last wish," Carlisle repeated, getting to his feet, "And as I've already said, she was 19, she could make her own choices."

"Be expecting a law suit," Helen spat, "You'll be hearing from our lawyer."

"Dear, we don't have a lawyer," Harold whispered.

"Shut up, Harold," Helen snapped, pulling away from him, "Let's go," She grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the house.

Carlisle and Esme waited until the car had driven away then sank onto the couch again, "What do we do?" Esme whispered.

"Get a lawyer," Carlisle said, already working on a plan, "Send the kids away. They're supposed to be at school or abroad,"

Esme nodded, "Should we separate them?"

"I don't see any need," Carlisle furrowed his brow.

"Don't you think the 5 of them will be rather conspicuous travelling together?" Esme asked.

"Right…" Carlisle sighed, "Well, if Alice goes her own way, we can send Kyleigh and Jasper somewhere and Emmet and Rosalie can go on another honeymoon."

"I think we need to see what they think," Esme pointed out lightly, "I'll go find them."

_Oh no…_

Every time Kyleigh had heard her father's raised voice, she'd flinched. Jasper had worked overtime to keep her emotions in check, but it was hard to do so when he could feel the others' anxiety as well. Rosalie had moved over to Kyleigh's other side and was holding one hand while Jasper held the other. Kyleigh had subconsciously begun rocking back and forth when she heard her mother's shrieking; how many times had she taken the brunt of her mother's mood swings?

Even Emmet had looked worried at times, glancing at Kyleigh; he wasn't very good at the whole emotion thing so he stayed where he was, but he did feel bad for his newest sister. Alice had remained still, searching for the resolution of the meeting, but she couldn't get a grasp on it because Kyleigh's parents kept changing their minds.

When Esme knocked on the door, everyone jumped. She poked her head in and told them it was over and to come back to the house so they all quietly followed her and crowded together in the living room, watching Carlisle expectantly.

"They want to press charges, as Alice said," He inclined his head at Alice, "At first, it just seemed like they wanted to guilt me about not telling them you'd taken a turn for the worse, but then I pointed out that you were a legal adult and they had left you for dead and, for some reason, that made them very angry," Carlisle gave a half smile then sobered, "Then they wanted proof because they accused me of killing you," Kyleigh gasped, but Carlisle continued, "And when I said that you'd been cremated, your mother lost it so now they're going to sue us…I'm not sure on what grounds, but she seemed serious." He finished.

The 5 kids stared at him in shock until Kyleigh burst out with, "This is all my fault, if I hadn't asked you to change me then this wouldn't have happened," she lurched to her feet, "Oh my God, I've blown your cover. If you leave now, then maybe you'll be okay and I'll…I don't know, I'll run away…" She made for the stairs, but Jasper leapt to his feet and grabbed her by the elbow, pulling her against his chest as she began doing the vampire equivalent of hyperventilating. After a few moments of being in Jasper's arms, she settled down and he made her sit back down, "Sorry…" She muttered, "Lost it for a second."

Emmet snorted, "Crazy, party of one," Rosalie stomped on his foot, "Ow! I'm referring to the fact that she thinks we're gonna let her leave. You're one of us, Kyleigh, whether you like it or not so sit down and shut up."

"Well…I was going to word that more politely, but I guess that works too, thanks Emmet," Carlisle said wryly.

"I think Kyleigh needs to go hunting," Esme suggested, looking at Kyleigh's now crimson eyes, "It might do her some good to blow off steam. We can come up with a plan while she's out."

Carlisle nodded in agreement, "Maybe you all should go hunting."

"I'm not hungry," Rosalie said.

"I think you're just too scared to go hunting with Kyleigh," Emmet teased.

"Please, I went hunting with her last week," Rosalie rolled her eyes, "I've just lost my appetite in lieu of today's events."

"I'd rather stay here and focus, I'll watch Tweedledee and Tweedledum's future for a little while," Alice declined.

"You guys are lame," Emmet stood up eagerly, "Come on, Crazy, I bet we can find a nice mountain lion for you."

Kyleigh nodded then grabbed Jasper's hand, hauling him up with her. After a quick conference, they waved to the others and dashed out the door.

Once they were gone, Esme rubbed her temples, "Okay girls, here's what we were thinking," She clued them in on their tentative plan, "Of course, it's up to you to decide what you want to do, Alice," Esme added in the end.

"I think you need me," Alice tapped her head with a lithe finger, "I can keep an eye out for you."

"Oh Alice, we won't subject you to being here. I know it hurts to be around us right now," She decided not to mention names.

"Look, if she is who he wants, then I'm going to try my damndest to make sure they're together," Alice said firmly, her eyes shining.

"Alright, then you have a choice, you can go with Kyleigh and Jasper or you can go with Emmet and Rosalie," Carlisle said, all business.

"Where exactly are you sending all of us?" Rosalie cocked a perfect brow.

"We were thinking of sending Kyleigh and Jasper to Edward then you guys can pick where you want to go."

"Won't that be dangerous for Nessie?" Rosalie asked, always protective of her niece.

"Not if Jasper's around," Alice shrugged, feeling another pang for her ex-love.

"God, I haven't seen Nessie in ages," Rosalie sighed wistfully.

"Rose, you were there a month ago." Carlisle reminded her.

"Oh I know," Rosalie replied, "I just miss her."

"We all do," Esme said sadly.

"Maybe it would be better to send Rosalie and Emmet to be with Edward since it'd be safer, just in case Kyleigh…you know," Alice pointed out gently, "Then Jasper and Kyleigh can go wherever."

"I still think you all could go to Edward, if you're careful about travelling. Like, if you left at different times," Carlisle suggested, "As long as you're careful, you'd be fine. Then it'd be double the protection for Nessie."

"I suppose," Alice shrugged again, "It's up to you guys. We have to ask Edward first, though."

"Ooh, you're right," Esme gasped, disappearing into the other room. They could hear her talking frantically into the phone.

"So is this the plan now?" Rosalie asked, looking to Carlisle for confirmation.

"I think it would be best," He replied, "They live on that secluded farm so there'd be plenty of room and as Esme said, if you stagger your departures and arrivals, no one will know."

Esme came back into the room, "Edward wants to know why it is that our family can't just live normally," She smiled, "And he said that they'd be happy to have you guys visit."

"Did you explain everything?"

"I gave the reader's digest version," Esme went to his side, "I figured you can explain when you get there."

"So, when are we leaving?" Emmet asked eagerly, jumping in through the back window.

"Oh for goodness sake, Emmet," Esme stared in dismay at the muddy foot prints he left, "Can't you use the door? And wipe your feet?"

"Sorry," He said sheepishly, taking off his shoes and tossing them out the window.

"Oof!" Kyleigh glared at Emmet through the window then went around to the side door and came in, "Emmet, for goodness sake, why must you throw things? Can't you just place them gently on the ground?" She wiped the mud off her shirt, "I finally managed to hunt without ruining an outfit and you had to get mud on it!" She glared at him.

"I can't win today," Emmet said dramatically, pouting to Rosalie who gave an un-Rosalie like giggle.

Jasper had come in behind Kyleigh and was snickering at Kyleigh's comical glare, "You really aren't scary," He teased.

"Oh yeah?" Kyleigh pounced on him. Jasper didn't even stumble back, "Well…that didn't have the effect I was going for," She sighed, "You couldn't even humor me?"

Jasper stumbled backwards for her, "Happy now?"

"Yes," She grinned at him.

Alice looked to Carlisle and moved to his side, "Shouldn't she have been able to take him?" She murmured.

"Kyleigh's not as strong as most newborns," He explained quietly, "She's got about the strength of a normal vampire, though sometimes she's weaker. We don't let her hunt alone because she's been trapped by lions before."

"Oh," Alice watched Kyleigh dismount from Jasper with half envy, half sympathy. It's no fun to be the weakest link in the family, not that Alice ever had been, but she assumed it wouldn't be.

"No one answered my question," Emmet pointed out, his arm around Rosalie.

"What was the question again?" Esme asked apologetically, "I got a little distracted by the mud which you will clean up."

"I asked when we're leaving," Emmet said over his shoulder, going to get a mop.

"As soon as possible," Carlisle answered.

"That was definitive," Emmet muttered, slopping water all over the floor and scrubbing at the foot prints.

Kyleigh dashed up the stairs and came back down in clean clothes, "Did I miss anything?" She whispered to Jasper.

"Yes," He said very seriously, "Johnny Depp stopped by for a minute. He said to say hello."

"Not funny! Thou shalt not joke about Johnny Depp!" Kyleigh kicked his shin.

He chuckled at her, "But really, the only thing you missed was Emmet slipping in the water and falling on his ass."

"Damn…that's almost as good as Johnny Depp," Kyleigh said wistfully.

"Thanks Kyleigh," Emmet glared at her. She smiled sweetly at him.

"Okay," Carlisle called them back to attention, "I can't decide who should leave first…Kyleigh and Jasper could leave first and have Emmet and Rosalie come behind them as protection…or we could send Emmet and Rosalie first as more of a precaution then when they're getting close, Jasper and Kyleigh could follow…" He furrowed his brow.

"I think the second one," Kyleigh determined, "If we want to stagger our travels, it'd be better to have them go first."

"It probably doesn't matter either way, I don't foresee any danger," Alice added, "Who am I going with?"

They all looked at each other, weighing everything.

"It's up to you," Esme said finally, "Whichever you're more comfortable with. It doesn't matter who you're with. If you see something, we can call each other,"

"You should come with us, Alice," Rosalie said, trying to sound lighthearted, "I want to hear more about your adventures in Spain. I was thinking of dragging Emmet there for vacation sometime."

Jasper and Kyleigh had sidled away, feeling awkward. They were communicating with their eyes about how difficult this could potentially be if she changes her mind.

"Maybe I should just stay here," Alice suggest, "I'd be more useful to you guys than to them," She pointed out, "They don't need to know things immediately. If it turns out you don't need me here, I can head over by myself," She attempted to sound breezy.

"She has a good point," Carlisle contemplated this.

"It's not like they'll search the house for Kyleigh's body or something, I'd be perfectly safe hiding upstairs."

"But don't you want to see Edward and Bella?" Esme raised her eyebrows.

"Yes, of course, but-"

"Alice, just ride with us," Emmet said impatiently, "Then you don't have to ride with them," He cocked his head towards Kyleigh and Jasper, "Who knows, maybe you'll find a new man in Montana," He wiggled his eyebrows.

Alice rolled her eyes, "I somehow doubt that, but fine, let's get packing,"

And so Rosalie and Emmet packed up their bags; Alice had never unloaded her suitcase from her car and Kyleigh and Jasper's things were ready from earlier. Jasper and Carlisle went to the garage to prepare the cars, Alice moved hers to the back of the house and finally they all sat and waited for the sun to go down.

**Just so you guys know, I'm going on vacation until next Friday. I'll probably post another chapter or two tomorrow before I leave, but if not, you'll have to wait a week. I'm very sorry! (well, I'm not because I'm going away, but I do feel bad). Anyway, please, please, please review, please? Thank you! **


	11. Chapter 11

**Here's 11, I own nothing, but Kyleigh =0)**

Emmet, Rosalie and Alice piled into the Mercedes S600 Guard as soon as the sun began setting.

"Never thought we'd need to use this thing again," Emmet sighed as he stuffed himself into the backseat. It was determined that Rosalie should drive and it would only be polite to let Alice sit in the front.

"It says it should take about 11 hours to get there, but…" Esme trailed off, giving Rosalie a sly smile.

"But it probably won't," Rosalie winked, putting on sunglasses, "We'll call you when we cross into Montana," She blew a kiss to Kyleigh then rolled up the window and they pealed out of the garage. Kyleigh turned to Jasper and slid an arm around his waist then they followed Esme back into the house. Carlisle had gone to the hospital to talk to the hospital's attorney; this wasn't the first time someone had sued the hospital, but Carlisle wanted to make sure that everything was under control since technically, he wasn't sure if they were suing him personally or the practice.

"How long do you think it'll take them?" Kyleigh asked, perching on the kitchen counter.

Esme didn't have the heart to tell her to get down, "At least a few hours. Rosalie drives fast, but not that fast. I'd say at least 5 or 6 hours till they get to the ranch, but I'd be ready just in case."

"Believe us, we're ready," Jasper assured her, leaning against the door frame.

"I'm really sor-" Kyleigh began, but broke off when Esme and Jasper glared at her.

"Don't worry about it," Esme said firmly, "This is nothing compared to what Bella put us through."

"Yeah, this is just a lawsuit, Bella brought us a full newborn army, the Volturi and a hybrid baby."

"Wait…the what?" Kyleigh cocked her head to the side, "And I thought vampires couldn't have kids."

"It's kind of a long story," Esme warned her.

"We've got nothing, but time," Kyleigh replied.

For the next hour and a half, Esme and Jasper took turns explaining the Volturi and Bella's involvement with the family.

"I didn't know you guys had a government," Kyleigh looked shocked, "I feel like Harry when he found out wizards have banks."

Esme and Jasper burst out laughing, "I like how that's the only thing she's shocked about," Jasper shook his head.

"I know, forget about the scary Italian family, the newborn army, and Nessie, the human-vampire child, let's focus on the concept of government," Esme laughed.

Kyleigh glared at them, "Think about it, that's the funniest part of the whole thing. You're vampires, I'd expect creepy armies to be lurking around…though I don't know what to say about Nessie…" Kyleigh admitted.

"None of us did either," Jasper replied, "She's quite unique."

"She has human blood in her, right?" Kyleigh checked, already fearing meeting her, "Because from what I've heard, I'm going to have issues with the whole human thing…"

"Well, maybe you won't," Esme said positively, "Maybe you'll be too busy thinking of other things."

"Like my family's impending lawsuit," Kyleigh sighed, "I'm kind of glad they abandoned me. If I'd stayed there any longer, I probably would've turned out like them," She shuddered.

"No," Esme disagreed, "You're your own person, you would've been fine."

"I suppose," Kyleigh drew designs on her jeans with her thumb nail.

"Cheer up, Ky," Jasper soothed, "You always said you wanted to travel."

"I feel like running off to Montana in the middle of the night doesn't constitute as travelling," Kyleigh laughed.

"…Sure it does!" Jasper said, trying to be upbeat. Esme watched him with an amused look on her face, relishing in the fact that her quietest son was finally displaying an emotion other than despair.

"We need to do something," Kyleigh determined, getting up and pacing around the kitchen.

"Such as?" Esme asked, her eyes following the young girl.

"I have no idea!" Kyleigh ran her fingers through her hair, "Just something, anything, I can't just sit and wait."

"Do we have any other stories?" Esme asked Jasper.

"I told her everyone's story; we just talked about the Bella saga, now she knows about the Volturi…" Jasper thought for a minute, "No, I really think that's it. Unless you want me to make one up," Jasper said teasingly.

"I'm sure that'd be interesting," Kyleigh let out a small laugh, "Go for it."

"I've never been the creative type," Jasper pointed out.

"Oh please, Tex, try," Kyleigh begged.

Esme nodded encouragingly.

"Fine…" Jasper came fully into the room and sat down at the table with Esme, "Once…"

"Upon a time," Kyleigh prompted, moving over and sitting on his lap.

"Once upon a time," Jasper began again, "There was a purple penguin named Petunia who wanted to pick some begonias, but Baxter the beaver put barbed wire around his flowers and told her that only animals whose names begin with 'B' could pick his begonias. Petunia was a sensitive soul and she cried the entire time she ran back to the pink shoe she lived in. Her salty tears seduced the dirt into growing some peonies and Petunia happily picked the peonies and arranged them in a lovely, pale vase. Baxter could see the pretty purple peonies in the window of the shoe and became very, very sad. All of the little critters from the magical forest ran to admire Petunias purple peonies, and the pitter patter of their little feet caused Baxter's dam to give out and he was swept down the river, never to be heard from again." Jasper concluded.

Kyleigh and Esme stared at him in shock, both mouths dropped. Jasper reached over and used his finger to clamp their mouths shut. Kyleigh began laughing hysterically, covering her face with her hands to muffle the sound. Esme, too, had a hand cupped over her mouth, also laughing.

"Women," Jasper drawled, shaking his head, "I just did what you asked."

"I-I know," Kyleigh gasped, pulling her hands away from her face, "I just didn't expect it to be so-so…"

"Ridiculous," Esme finished, clearing her throat and regaining composure, though still grinning.

Kyleigh stifled another giggle, pressing her face into the crook of Jasper's neck. He smiled, "Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"There should be a sequel," Kyleigh determined, sitting back up and pushing her hair out of her face, "Like…the Return of Baxter the Beaver."

"The Besiege of Baxter," Esme said ominously, trying not to laugh.

"Very funny, guys," Jasper muttered.

"You could parlay this into a full series: Gertrud the Goat, Sally the Sea Serpent and Zoe the Zebra. You could go A-Z! Like Eric Carl."

"Who?" Jasper tilted his head.

Kyleigh looked aghast, "You are _so_ culturally deprived. As soon as we get to Montana, we are going to a bookstore, and by 'we' I mean you, and we're going to get the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar."

"Ah," Was all Jasper could think of as a response, "Sounds like an interesting read."

"It's _epic_. It's about a caterpillar who's very hungry."

"I'd surmised that from the title, Ky," Jasper said dryly.

Esme stifled another giggle at their conversation, "I think you've got a lot to learn from this one, Jasper."

"Oh, I'm sure of it," Jasper wrapped his arms around Kyleigh's waist and squeezed gently, "She's already got a list of movies for me to watch…something about steel with some ferret guy."

"_Steel Magnolias_ with Tom Skerrit?" Kyleigh corrected.

"Yeah, that," He nodded, "I was close."

Kyleigh rolled her eyes at him, "In your dreams."

"I feel like if I could actually dream, it probably wouldn't be about Tom Skerrit," Jasper said thoughtfully.

"It'd be about me!" Kyleigh sang.

"Maybe," Jasper mused, "It's been a long time since I've dreamed so who knows?"

"I dreamt about you," Kyleigh admitted, glad that it was just Esme, Jasper and herself, "That first night we met, I dreamt about you."

"I thought you said you hated me then," Jasper laughed.

"I didn't say it was a pleasant dream," Kyleigh said quietly, "You were trying to suck my blood. Oh and Carlisle was in it too, he was waltzing with a werewolf."

"Ooh, werewolves…" Esme slapped a palm to her forehead, "I knew we forgot something about the stories."

"Wait, what?" Kyleigh stared at Esme. Just then the phone rang; apparently time had flown by a lot faster than Kyleigh had realized. After a quick conversation, Esme hung up, "They're not quite to Montana yet, but they said the drive is quiet so they don't see the need for you to wait any longer."

Jasper lightly lifted Kyleigh up so he could grab the car. Esme got to her feet and she and Kyleigh hauled the suitcases down the stairs into the garage. Jasper was standing next to the Veyron, it's engine already running. They swiftly loaded up the car then Kyleigh turned to Esme, suddenly feeling like she was losing her mother all over again, only this time she actually loved the person playing the part of 'mom.' Kyleigh threw her arms around Esme and buried her face in her hair. Esme soothingly rubbed circles on her back then gently pushed her away so she could kiss her forehead, "It'll all be fine, sweetheart," Esme murmured, stroking Kyleigh's cheek, "This will be over soon."

Kyleigh just nodded and stepped back so Jasper could give Esme a hug goodbye. She slid into the cars smooth, leather interior and gaped around, "It's like a spaceship in here!" She called, "I feel like James Bond."

Esme and Jasper laughed then Esme whispered, "Take care of her, Jasper. Call as soon as you can."

Jasper saluted her, "Yes, Ma'am," He said then got in the car, shut the door and left Esme behind. She shut the garage door behind them then wearily went back to the house to wait, this time alone.

_Please, don't leave…_

"So…back at the hospital…when I said werewolves and you said sure…you weren't kidding?" Kyleigh stared at him, not even noticing the speedometer inching past 200.

"Nope," Jasper shook his head, "Though I wasn't going to bring them up then…and they aren't really werewolves…they're actually shape shifters."

Kyleigh nodded like that made sense then said, "What's the difference?"

Jasper laughed, "Werewolves only change at the full moon, shape shifters can change whenever they want."

"That's disconcerting," Kyleigh determined, "And you're saying that this shape shifter Jacob is in love with Bella and Edward's daughter?"

"It's more than love," Jasper wasn't even looking at the road, watching her hair blowing from the wind coming through the cracked windows, "It's called imprinting. It's like love at first sight, but amplified."

"And this happened even though she was a baby?" Kyleigh clarified, looking disturbed.

"Yes, but basically, he loved her as a brother until she was old enough to see him differently. Now, they'll probably be dating."

"Wait…isn't she like 5?"

"She's a hybrid, so she aged quickly. Technically, yes, she's 5 or maybe 6 now, but she'll have the appearance of a 16 year old and the intelligence of…I don't even know at this point," Jasper tried to explain, "You'll have to see what I mean."

"This whole thing is bizarre," Kyleigh sighed, "Who knew there was this whole other world right beside me and I never even realized it?"

"We work hard to make it that way, Ky," He reached over and cupped her cheek with his hand.

"Okay, I am confused about something," Kyleigh said thoughtfully, leaning her face into his touch.

"I'm sure you are," Jasper replied expectantly.

"What's so special about this car?" She looked around, "It just looks like a car to me…"

"Kyleigh, it's one of the fastest cars in the world," Jasper said incredulously. To prove his point, he pushed down on the gas pedal gently and they rapidly gathered speed, "It's also one of the most expensive cars in the world, which is why Emmet doesn't get to drive it."

"Okay, you've proved your point, ease up a bit," Kyleigh urged; she had her limits. When the needle went over 300, she had to draw the line.

Jasper chuckled and released his foot until it was back down to 210, "Feel better?"

"Much," She nodded happily, propping her feet up on the dashboard, deciding that Jasper would get over it. He didn't even comment, instead watching for signs.

"Ha! We're in Idaho," He said in satisfaction.

"Have you always had a desire to go to Idaho?" Kyleigh raised her eyebrows.

"Not really, but we're out of Oregon. Now we just need to get through Idaho and into Montana."

"This running away thing is certainly interesting," Kyleigh mused, "I mean, now I know the difference between shape shifters and werewolves. And I know that this Velcro thing is super fast. It's speedometer goes up to 400!"

"Ky, it's Veyron," Jasper corrected patiently.

"Whatever, same thing," She shrugged it off.

They fell silent for a little while, but, per usual, Kyleigh broke it, "Hey Jasper?"

"Hey Kyleigh?" He responded lazily.

"Do you," Kyleigh broke off, "About Alice," She began and felt him stiffen slightly, "Do you…miss her?"

"And by miss her, you mean want her, right?" Jasper perceived.

Kyleigh fidgeted with her fingers, nodding slightly.

Jasper pulled over and parked the car then flew around it and opened the passenger door, kneeling in front of her, "Ky, don't drive yourself crazy, okay?" He murmured, taking her hands, "I've had 5 years to get over this, and I'm not some stupid, hormonal teenage boy," He kissed her fingers.

"Well, I know, it's just…I wasn't sure if seeing her changed anything," Kyleigh mumbled, feeling slightly ashamed of herself.

Jasper unbuckled her seat belt and lightly tugged her out of the car so she tumbled into his arms and they sprawled in the grass then he pinned her down like he had not even 2 days ago and kissed her, "No," he said, her lips moving with his, "It didn't."

If Kyleigh's lips had been available, she would've smiled, but Jasper was keeping them rather occupied. She rested her hands on his chest, arching her back against him and sighing when he teasingly slid his lips down her jawbone and pressed them against her pulse point, "Are you going to bite me now?" She teased quietly. She could feel him smile against her skin and lightly scraped his teeth against her causing her to laugh.

"We need to keep moving," Jasper murmured, kissing her one last time before pulling her to her feet.

"Okay, I appreciate your gesture, but there are leaves in my hair…again," Kyleigh complained.

Jasper chuckled and pulled them out for her, "Maybe if you had shorter hair, you wouldn't have this problem."

"I am not cutting my hair!" Kyleigh yelled at him, getting back in the car.

"So angry," He joked, sliding back in and pulling back onto the road.

"You try dealing with leaves in your hair," she muttered, tugging another one out and throwing it at him.

"If I say I'm sorry will you stop throwing leaves?" He asked, unleashing his powers on her.

"Maybe," She hedged.

He turned and looked her in the eye, "I'm very sorry, it won't happen again."

Kyleigh nodded slightly stupidly then snapped out of it and pushed his face forward, "Focus!"

Jasper laughed, "Ky, do you really think I'm gonna kill you?"

Kyleigh sighed, "I suppose not…" She tilted her head back and shut her eyes, trying not to think about Harold and Helen and the impending shit storm that would come with them.

_Don't go…_

Emmet, Rosalie and Alice had arrived at Edward and Bella's shortly after hanging up with Esme. Now they were sitting on the back deck and the trio were filling their family in on what happened. Rosalie was sitting with her arm around Nessie and they were watching Jacob idly whittling away at a piece of wood.

"Wow," Bella said after Emmet had finished the story.

"I know, right?" Rosalie laughed, stroking Nessie's long hair. Nessie was still a little hesitant to speak verbally, so occasionally, she would reach up with her hand and place it against Rosalie's head and show her what she was thinking. She was trying to picture what Kyleigh would look like, but kept getting things wrong. Unfortunately, she kept placing Alice next to Jasper instead of Kyleigh. _Hopefully, once she sees Kyleigh, she'll stop doing that._ Rosalie thought to herself.

"And now her parents are suing us?" Edward asked.

"Yes," Rosalie responded.

While Edward and Bella had been pleasant towards Alice, they were still confused about what had happened between her and Jasper and why she was back. Bella made a note to pull her aside and ask later, "So, when will they arrive?"

Emmet shrugged, "Carlisle gave him the Veyron, so it'll probably be soon."

"The what?" Bella cocked her head to the side.

"It's a very fast car, love," Edward explained, smiling at Bella.

"Again with the cars," Bella shook her head and laughed.

"You would think that after all these years, you'd have developed a car appreciation," Alice teased.

"Oh, I appreciate them, I just don't understand their importance."

"Well, in this case, having one of the fastest cars in the world will certainly be useful considering technically, Jasper's harboring a corpse," Emmet joked.

"Emmet," Rosalie hissed, glancing at Nessie then glaring.

Emmet mouthed 'sorry' and began talking to Edward about cars.

"So, there are more of you now?" Jacob asked; he'd stayed silent throughout the entire visit, carefully focusing on the wood.

"Yes," Rosalie nodded, laughing as Nessie turned and began playing with Rosalie's hair, "We have another sister now. I think you'll like her."

Jacob shrugged, "Sure, sure."

Bella moved over and sat with Alice, who was staring off into space again, "So," Bella said, trying to break the ice.

"Hm?" Alice looked over at her, "What?"

"What's going on?" Bella asked, "I mean, last thing we heard, you'd left Jasper a note and fallen off the face of the earth so I'm just curious…what happened?"

"Oh," Alice sighed, "Well…" Alice launched into her story, trying to explain herself as best she could; looking back, Alice realized why people would be angry with her, but she'd always assumed they'd understand she had some greater reason behind her actions; _apparently they truly underestimated how much I love him_ she sighed.

"Alice," Bella snapped her out of her reverie, "You could've told me," Bella looked hurt.

"I'm sorry, Bella, I just really needed to get away, it was the only solution I could think of," She shrugged, "Do you understand now?"

Bella nodded and Alice smiled, throwing her arms around the brunette and hugging her tightly.

"Aw, Hallmark moment," Emmet teased.

Alice and Bella pulled away and glared at him.

"Ignore him, he gets more annoying when he has no source of entertainment," Rosalie laughed.

"Believe me, I remember that," Bella replied, "I used to be his number one source of amusement."

"I think Kyleigh's taken your place," Alice laughed.

"She's very funny," Rosalie told them, "Almost in an accidental way."

"Oh and she's a freaking beast when it comes to hunting," Emmet added, his eyes reflecting the respect he had for his sister, "It's so cool."

"I thought Carlisle said she wasn't as strong as the others," Alice raised her eyebrows, "How does that work?"

"She's not as strong, but she's got impressive technique for a newborn. As long as someone is there with her to make sure she doesn't get owned by something, she's fine."

"Why would she be weaker?" Jacob asked, "I thought your newborns were freakish."

"They're strong because of the human blood pumping through them, but since Kyleigh was sick, her blood was weak so her human blood basically does nothing for her. She's getting stronger, though," Rosalie said firmly.

Nessie touched Rosalie's forehead and showed her an image of human lying sick in bed.

"Right, that's how she was _before_," Rosalie said, "Now she's like us, strong and beautiful."

Nessie, again, showed Rosalie an image of Alice and Jasper holding hands.

Rosalie merely shook her head, not wanting to say anything with Alice around. It was getting lighter outside, meaning the other two had been on the road for a good 5 hours. Rosalie was beginning to get nervous that they hadn't arrived yet, wishing Jasper were there to calm her down.

"What's wrong?" Nessie asked in her beautiful voice, shocking all of them. She had paused in the stroking of Rosalie's hair and was watching her with concern in her eyes.

"Nothing, sweetheart," Rosalie soothed, "Just excited for you to meet your new aunt. Aren't you excited to see your uncle?"

Nessie smiled happily and nodded, proceeding to move her hands again. Rosalie relaxed into Nessie's strong, but soft hands and tried her best to relax.

_Ooh, I know…_

"I think the most disconcerting part of being a vampire is not having to pee anymore," Kyleigh determined after hanging up with Esme to tell her they were rapidly approaching Edward's ranch.

"Out of all the abilities you've lost and gained, that's the one that bothers you the most?" Jasper gaped at her, "Not going without sleep or eating regular food, you're biggest issue is not having to pee?"

"I had a tiny bladder, I used to have to pee once every 2 hours at least! It's just weird to not have that urge anymore. Don't get me wrong, it's not necessarily something I miss, it's just strange."

"You, Kyleigh Montgomery, are definitely one of a kind," Jasper chuckled as he pulled into the long, dirt driveway.

"I try," She said flippantly, "Where are you supposed to be?"

"What do you mean?" Jasper furrowed his brow, slowing the car down as he began hitting bumps.

"Like, as Esme and Carlisle's kids, where are you supposed to be right now? School wise and stuff."

"Oh! Since it's just been the three of us for the last 5 years, it's been a little easier. We used to have Edward, Alice and myself be younger since it'd be unlikely that we'd all be the same age. Technically, of the kids, I'm the oldest since I was changed when I was 20, but Rosalie and I are 'twins' so she and I pretended to be a year younger than Emmet. Emmet looks older than us, so it was more likely. Anyway, we started off as juniors in high school, Emmet as a senior. He graduated, again," Jasper smirked, thinking about how many ceremonies they'd been through, "And he pretended to take a gap year to travel, making people believe he was waiting for Rosalie to graduate before going to school.

"Rosalie and I did our senior year, then Rosalie and Emmet pretended to meet up again to go to Dartmouth while I pretended to do my own year abroad. Obviously, we didn't actually do that. Instead, Emmet and Rosalie had another little wedding and went on another honeymoon and I…sat around and sulked," Jasper finished.

"Why don't you guys go to college?" Kyleigh asked. They'd parked the car and were sitting in the driveway.

"Oh, we have," Jasper shrugged, "It can just get tedious to do school over and over again."

"So, you just sit around at home all the time," Kyleigh couldn't imagine anything more boring.

"No, we do things. I mean, we go on family vacations and we take turns travelling and we have past times, it's just a little simpler for us to stay in one place," They both stared at the large house in front of them, "I think it's rude to sit in the driveway," Jasper said finally, getting out of the car and appearing at the driver's side to open her door as well.

The two of them unloaded the car and climbed up to the front door. Before Jasper could knock, Edward was opening the door, gesturing them inside quickly, "Hi," He greeted Jasper first, shaking his hand firmly then turning to Kyleigh, "I'm Edward, welcome to Montana," He held out his hand to hers.

Kyleigh shook it, "I'm Kyleigh, thank you so much for harboring me as a fugitive," She joked.

Edward smiled at her, and if Kyleigh weren't so in love with Jasper (not that she'd admit that to him), she would've swooned, "Come on in, I'll take your bags upstairs, everyone else is right through the house on the back porch."

Jasper and Kyleigh thanked him then he took her hand and led her outside. The first person she saw was Rosalie, already standing in the doorway smiling at them. The breathtaking blonde enveloped Kyleigh in a hug that Kyleigh eagerly returned.

Bella looked slightly put out that Rosalie had so willingly accepted Kyleigh into the family much quicker than she'd accepted her, but she pushed it aside and stood up, "Hello," She smiled, "I'm Bella," She and Kyleigh shook hands. Jasper conversed quickly with Emmet then turned to Bella and gave her a brief hug.

"How was your trip?" Alice asked, not getting up to greet them.

"Easy," Jasper replied, sitting on the porch steps, carefully watching Kyleigh as Nessie walked over to her and held out her hands. Kyleigh tentatively took them and stared in amazement as Nessie touched them to her head, showing her an image of the girl lying in the sick bed, then showing Kyleigh an image of herself. Kyleigh gasped because this was the first time she'd seen a reflection of herself. She was still pale, she still had circles under her eyes, but instead of seeing a sunken face, she saw well-defined cheekbones that looked artful rather than sallow. She saw her black eyes, but didn't focus on them, instead taking in her full lips and smooth, auburn hair spilling over her shoulders. Nessie released her and smiled happily then skipped back over to Rosalie's side and sat down again.

Kyleigh was so shocked, she didn't even smell the human blood, but Jasper was also keeping a steady wave of calm over her, just in case.

Kyleigh turned to Bella, "She's absolutely amazing."

Bella smiled her thanks and Edward, who had come back outside, placed a hand on her shoulder, "She's our miracle," He agreed.

Jacob cleared his throat. Kyleigh hadn't even noticed how close he had moved while she'd been reading Nessie's mind; she remembered that Jasper had said he was just as protective of Nessie as her parents.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kyleigh resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose at his smell as she held out a hand, "I'm Kyleigh."

He took it then quickly released it, "Jacob."

Kyleigh went and sat next to Jasper on the stairs as silence descended over them. Bella was busy watching Kyleigh and Jasper, trying not to feel resentment towards the new girl; she was upset about the Rosalie thing, but she was also annoyed that because of this person, Alice was unhappy. She looked away when Jasper put a hand over Kyleigh's and whispered something in her ear, causing her to smile and bite her lip.

Alice was staring into space again, wanting desperately to see something useful. Rosalie was happy to see that Nessie had finally paired Kyleigh and Jasper off in her mind, and they weren't just holding hands, they were dancing. Jacob had moved onto the bench and was sitting on Nessie's other side, keeping an eye on Kyleigh, clearly not trusting her. Emmet had found a bouncy ball of Nessie's and was playing with it absently.

Edward, on the other hand, was subtly reading Kyleigh's thoughts. They fascinated him because they were much more mature than one would expect from a 19 year old girl. He supposed that being sick for so long had aged her, but even as she kissed Jasper's cheek quickly, she wasn't thinking sappy thoughts, she was focusing on not hurting Alice. It seemed that Kyleigh felt much more guilt about the situation than she was letting on and he respected her for that. And, of course, she was also frantically thinking about her parents, occasionally cussing them out. One particular mental rant had him laugh out loud and they all looked at him quizzically.

Kyleigh locked eyes with him and looked embarrassed, "You just heard that, didn't you."

Edward, ever the gentleman, nodded, but tried to look remorseful for eavesdropping, "It was funny," He said sheepishly.

"No fair," Emmet whined, "I forgot how much it sucks to hang out with you."

"Emmet!" Rosalie said exasperatedly, again looking at Nessie pointedly.

Emmet groaned, "I can't win."

"None of us feel bad for you," Kyleigh laughed.

Emmet glared at her and threatened to throw the bouncy ball at her then Jasper growled at him and he dropped it. They sat in silence again; Kyleigh was noticing a pattern in vampire-ology: there was a lot of sitting in silence. She didn't know if she liked it.

She was about to get up to see if Emmet would play with her when Alice went rigid and they all turned to watch her. Jasper locked fingers with Kyleigh, literally feeling the nerves rolling off of her. She came back into focus and shook her head, resisting the urge to glare at Kyleigh.

"Well?" Rosalie snapped impatiently.

"They're going to sue the hospital for not notifying them and they're going to sue Carlisle for malpractice; they want to get his license revoked." She landed accusing eyes on Kyleigh, resentment pouring off of her. Kyleigh shrank into Jasper's side as they all locked their eyes on her and a new kind of silence enveloped the room.

Creds to my mom and Erin for the story of Petunia and Baxter. As I said, I'm going on vacation today so I won't be posting till next Friday. Please don't forget about the story in my absence and please read and review! Bye


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you for all the reviews and alerts! Here's chapter 12, I'm transposing 13 from my notebook to my laptop now. I own nothing, but my girl Kyleigh. Enjoy!**

"They don't hate you, you know," A gentle voice came from behind her. Kyleigh turned and saw Edward leaning out the window, looking at her intently, "I can hear what you're thinking and you're wrong. May I?" He gestured out the window. When she nodded, he hoisted himself out and slid over so he was sitting next to her on the roof, "This is an interesting hiding place," He said conversationally, looking up at the sky.

"I needed time to think," Kyleigh replied, also staring up at the clouds.

"Understandable," Edward nodded, "But I stand by what I said, they don't hate you. Carlisle and Esme obviously care enough about you to have saved you, so don't worry about it."

"If Carlisle's license gets revoked then-"

"I doubt that will happen," Edward cut her off, "Carlisle is an excellent doctor who could work anywhere; they're not going to let him go easily."

"My parents are very stubborn," Kyleigh insisted, "This could end horribly, plus I think the rest of the family hates me now."

"That's not true," Edward said softly, "Jasper loves you; as does Rosalie. Emmet likes you. I think Nessie likes you, too. She likes your hair."

Kyleigh giggled, "She showed me what I look like; I think she knew I hadn't looked in a mirror."

"She's very smart," Edward said, looking proud.

Kyleigh smiled at him, "She's incredible." She tilted her head back and shut her eyes, "Maybe I should've just let it kill me," She mused.

"Don't ever say that," Edward said dangerously, "Don't say that. It would _kill_ Jasper."

Kyleigh looked startled, "I would never say that to him, I'm not a complete bitch, you know," She shot back angrily, sitting up and trying to get past him.

"Kyleigh," Edward grabbed her arm.

"Let. Go." Kyleigh hissed at him, trying to wrench her arm free.

"Kyleigh," Edward said again, "I didn't mean to offend you. Don't leave your spot on my account."

Kyleigh glared at him again, but sat back down, "Don't think I'm staying because I'm no longer angry. I just don't think I can get around you gracefully," She crossed her arms, laid back down and stared at the sky resolutely.

Edward stifled his laughter, "Okay."

They stared at the sky.

"I'm sorry," Kyleigh mumbled grudgingly, "I overreacted…"

"Apology accepted," Edward responded, smiling at her.

"Quit being so cheerful," She ordered, "It's bugging me."

"I'm not being cheerful at all!" Edward furrowed his brow, "I just came up here to let you know that it's going to be alright."

"You keep smiling, it's a little disconcerting," Kyleigh replied.

"Oh…sorry," Edward shrugged, "You're thoughts amuse me."

"Get out of my head!" Kyleigh laughed, "That's a violation of the first Amendment."

"Isn't the first Amendment freedom of speech?" Edward asked, looking confused.

"Oh crap…" Kyleigh muttered, "Whatever, I didn't really do all of high school, but I know it's unethical to listen to my thoughts."

"That may be," He conceded, "But it's not really my fault. Maybe if your thoughts weren't so loud, it'd be easier."

Kyleigh rolled her eyes, "I don't come with a volume switch."

"Believe me, darling, I'm aware," Jasper drawled, sticking his head through the window, "We've been wondering where you two went."

"I followed her mind up here," Edward moved over so Jasper could climb out next to him.

"It's so creepy," Kyleigh pouted, "I don't like it."

Jasper pouted back, "I'm sorry."

"Tell him to get out," Kyleigh laughed.

"I just came up here to be nice!" Edward said exasperatedly.

"It's not usually that simple with Miss Kyleigh," Jasper winked at her, "She's a little headstrong."

Kyleigh smiled sweetly at Edward who laughed and shook his head, "Okay, well I've said what I wanted to say, you can have your empathetic boyfriend help you now," He gracefully crawled over Jasper and glanced back at her, "There wasn't anything hard about that," He grinned then went inside.

"Oh my God, he's so infuriating!" Kyleigh glared at the window.

"Most people have that reaction about Emmet," Jasper teased, "Most women have problems articulating around Edward."

"Really?" Kyleigh conceded that he was attractive, but he wasn't Johnny Depp or anything, "That's ridiculous. He's not _that_ good looking."

"Don't let Bella hear you say that," Jasper looked pleased.

"She doesn't like me anyway, so it probably doesn't matter." Kyleigh sobered, pulling her knees against her chest.

"Hey now," Jasper soothed, moving over and rubbed her shoulders, "She doesn't know you."

"In my experience, that doesn't matter," Kyleigh thought about all those years as a social pariah, "This whole thing is bringing back my old insecurities," Kyleigh admitted, "It's really bothering me."

"Which part, sweetheart?" Jasper murmured, stroking her hair.

"That this stupid thing is bringing out my weaknesses," Kyleigh rested her forehead against her knees, "I hate feeling weak and useless. I spent so much of my life feeling like an invalid, I don't want to spend my afterlife that way too!"

Jasper pulled her into his arms, pressing her body against his hard chest, "Kyleigh," He whispered, "Kyleigh, Kyleigh, Kyleigh," He sang her name softly.

She pressed her face against his neck and breathed deeply, inhaling his sweet scent.

"Don't let them bother you," He soothed, his hands firm as they held her, "Bella would be a hypocrite if she hated you for this. She nearly killed all of us a few times. I think her feelings have more to do with Alice than with you and the lawsuit. She and Alice are extremely close…well they were, before Alice left and everything," Jasper broke off then shook his head, "Anyway, relax. Carlisle and Esme wouldn't be doing any of this if they didn't love you and you've got Emmet and Rosalie on your side. And I love you, of course," He added.

Kyleigh smiled then bit her lip, "Really?" She pulled away.

"Is it that hard to believe?" Jasper mumbled, looking embarrassed.

Kyleigh stroked his cool cheek with her fingers, "Kind of," She admitted then pressed her lips against his, "But only because it's been awhile since anyone's loved me…though I feel like you're talking about a different kind of love."

"Very different," He nodded, kissing her again.

She smiled, breaking the kiss, "Good. Because I love you, I think."

"You think?" He smirked.

"I'm rather new to this," Kyleigh shrugged, "I've never done the whole boyfriend thing before, remember?"

"I'm not your typical boyfriend," Jasper laughed.

"Regardless," Kyleigh grinned at him, "I still have no idea what I'm doing."

Jasper kissed her, "Well ma'am," His voice dripping with southern charm, "I can teach you whatever you want."

Kyleigh threw her arms around him tightly and kissed his cheek, "If everything calms down, I'll take you up on that offer."

"When," He corrected her, "When everything calms down."

"Right," Kyleigh nodded, kissing his cheek again then pulling away, "So you think the whole Bella glaring me off the porch thing has nothing to do with the law suit?"

"Um," Jasper shrugged, "I mean, she might be upset about it, but she'd be shooting herself in the foot if that were all. It's probably more about Alice; they're like sisters. Oh and I think she resents your relationship with Rosalie," Jasper pointed out.

"Why?" Kyleigh raised her eyebrows, "They seem fine."

"Rosalie wasn't too thrilled when Bella originally came into our lives. It bothered her that someone would want to just…throw it all away. Because Bella isn't like the rest of us; she willingly chose to become a vampire even though she was perfectly healthy. That rubbed Rosalie the wrong way, so to speak," Jasper sighed, "It wasn't until Bella got pregnant that Rosalie finally accepted her. So I think it's really bothering Bella that Rosalie has so willingly taken you under her wing."

"Ah," Kyleigh absorbed this, "Well that's stupid," she complained, "It's not my fault Rosalie didn't like her and it's not my fault you fell in love with me."

"Au contraire, darling, it is _entirely_ you're fault that I fell in love with you," Jasper teased, twisting her hair around his fingers, "And I don't mind that. I feel horrible for Alice, but I don't blame you and it's not going to change anything so relax. Okay?"

"Okay," Kyleigh accepted, "Maybe we should go back inside now…there might be something new going on."

"True," Jasper took her elbow and supported her as they crawled back into the house, "Last I heard, Carlisle and Esme were getting a lawyer and the hospital was already building up a case against your parents. I wouldn't lose sleep about it," He smirked.

"Ha, ha, very funny," Kyleigh rolled her eyes good naturedly. They linked arms and went downstairs.

_It's coming back…_

"Nessie's getting pretty good," Emmet told Bella, "She's fast."

Nessie smiled happily at him and sat down at the table.

"Did you thank your uncle for taking you out to eat?" Bella asked, smiling at them.

"Thank you," Nessie sang shyly.

"Anytime, kiddo," Emmet tilted back in his seat, "I'm the designated dinner date."

Bella gave him a questioning look then remembered that Kyleigh had to be supervised as well, "Ah," She said mildly.

"Aw come on, Bella, don't hate on the K-ster," Emmet said seriously.

"I'm not hating on anyone," Bella replied coolly.

"Sure you aren't," Emmet snorted, clearly not believing her, "I'm gonna go find Rosalie."

"I think she's looking at one of the cars," Bella informed him, sitting down with her daughter.

Emmet thanked her and ventured outside, finding his beautiful wife peering under the hood of Edward's Volvo, "This thing isn't conducive to Montana," She said, straightening up and pausing when she saw Emmet, "Ooh sorry, I thought you were Edward."

"Clearly," He went over and looked at the engine as well, "What's the problem?"

"Just in general, the whole shock system's out of whack and his engine is vastly overheated. He'd do better do get a truck like Bella's from back in the day."

"I meant what's the problem with you and Bella and Alice and Kyleigh…" Emmet corrected.

"Oh," Rosalie said stiffly, "There isn't a problem. Just a little difference in opinions," She slammed the hood of the car shut.

"Ouch, easy on the car, Rosalie," Edward winced, walking around from behind the house.

"Sorry," Rosalie didn't look apologetic, "I think you need something more durable. Like a tank."

"Or just Bella's truck," Emmet smirked.

"You better not let Bella hear you speak ill of the truck," Edward warned, though he was still smiling. Since everything had worked out with Nessie, Edward always seemed to be in a good mood, "And I love this car, it's fast."

"There's nowhere to go around here. You never leave the ranch anyway," Rosalie replied.

"That's not true, sometimes we go out," Edward lied.

"Liar," Emmet said good naturedly, "You're recluses."

"I have everything I need right here," Edward shrugged, "There's plenty of food, tons of space and my best girls are with me. What more do I need?"

Rosalie pretended to gag behind his back, clearly rather sickened by Edward's disposition.

"You may scoff, Rosalie," Edward laughed without turning around, "But it's true."

Rosalie rolled her eyes, "Is there anything else you need me to look at?"

"Nope, that was it. Thank you."

Rosalie nodded, "Where did Alice go?"

"I think she went for a walk," Emmet replied, "Said something about wanting to clear her head."

Kyleigh and Jasper came from around the house. When Kyleigh saw the others, she pressed a finger to her lips then softened her footsteps, moving towards Emmet's turned back; once she was about 5 feet away from him, she pounced, catching him by surprise and bringing him to his knees.

"What the-" Emmet yelled then turned his head and saw Kyleigh sitting lotus style on his back, smiling triumphantly.

"I got you," She gloated.

"Not for long," He growled, flinging her off his back and jumping after her. Kyleigh deftly rolled back to her feet and away from Emmet. He glared at her and pounced again, flying over her head as she ducked. This went on for a few minutes until finally Emmet pinned her against the Volvo, "What now, Montgomery," Emmet grinned.

"Alright, alright, I give in," Kyleigh relented, "For now, anyway," She winked.

"That was impressive," Edward commented to Jasper and Rosalie, "She's not bad."

"Like we told you, she's a beast," Rosalie said, looking strangely proud.

"She lacks stamina though," Jasper sighed, "At some point, whatever she's after usually gets the better of her. We've been training her to go for the kill quickly rather than play with her food."

Emmet and Kyleigh were now jokingly wrestling and laughing.

"How's that working?" Edward raised his eyebrows.

"She likes to have fun so it's been a struggle. That's why we always send someone with her. Emmet's always up for a hunt and he loves horsing around like this, which I think is helping train her," Jasper explained, watching them and smiling when Kyleigh jumped up onto Emmet's broad shoulders, "You could've been a gymnast in your past life, Ky."

"My parents did enroll me in ballet and gymnastics back when I was a kid," Kyleigh called back then screamed with laughter as Emmet threw her off of him and caught her in his arms, bride style.

"Had enough yet?" Emmet teased, putting her down.

"Never," Kyleigh insisted, "Although it's more fun to attack Jasper," She eyed her blonde boyfriend.

"Don't even think about it," He laughed, holding up his hands.

"Come on, All Mighty Newborn Conqueror, are you scared?" Kyleigh catcalled, crouching down.

Jasper snorted and crouched down as well, "You're hardly imposing, sweetheart."

They stared at each other then Kyleigh pounced. Jasper jumped over her and landed in a squat on the other side of her. Kyleigh quickly turned and ran at him. He grabbed her and spun her around, causing her to squeal.

"Cause that's totally how we took on that newborn army," Emmet called to them, going over and standing with Rosalie.

"Cuddling is a great defense mechanism," Jasper said back, dangling Kyleigh over his shoulder while she squirmed, occasionally punching his back. He let go of her briefly and she screamed then he pulled her back and cradled her against his chest.

She pouted at him, "No fair."

"Hey, you asked for it," He replied, carrying her over to the others and dropping her back to her feet.

"He never actually fights me," Kyleigh complained to Edward.

In his head, Jasper explained to Edward that he feared he'd injure her if he actually tried.

Edward subtly nodded, "How rude of him, trying to be a gentleman. Come on, guys, let's go see if Alice is back." He shepherded them back to the house, smiling when he saw Jasper slip an arm around Kyleigh's tiny shoulders and surreptitiously kiss her temple _at least he's happy now,_ Edward reasoned, appreciating Alice's sacrifice.

_Darling…_

"Maxwell Snyder at your service," Maxwell Snyder gave them a dazzling smile and gesturing for them to sit down.

"Thank you, Mr. Snyder," Esme smiled at him, arranging her hands neatly in her lap.

"Please, Mrs. Cullen, call me Maxwell," Maxwell Snyder winked.

"Maxwell, then," Esme resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"What can I do for you two today?" He asked, twirling a pen between his fat fingers.

"As I explained on the phone, I'm being brought up on charges," Carlisle began.

"And what is the nature of these charges?"

"I'm being accused of killing one of my patients," Carlisle replied bluntly.

Maxwell Snyder's thick eyebrows went skyward, "Why don't you start from the beginning."

So for the next 45 minutes, Carlisle detailed the story behind the lawsuit, occasionally pausing to answer questions.

"Wow," Maxwell said finally, "Well, I think our best bet would be to play up the fact that Kyleigh was a legal adult, so they can't sue you over not contacting them."

"I think they're planning on suing the hospital for that," Esme informed him lightly.

"Just the same, we can also draw upon the fact that they abandoned her," Maxwell began writing on a thick legal pad.

"Yes, but how will that help with the murder investigation."

"My dear sir," Maxwell Snyder laughed, "They can't officially charge you with murder! She refused treatment for her fever, she said herself that she didn't want to go on anymore medication and she signed a DNR. I think it's pretty clear that she was ready to be done. What did she die of again? AIDs?"

"You can't die from AIDs," Esme said exasperatedly.

Carlisle took her hand and squeezed it warningly, "My wife is right. She died from tuberculosis meningitis. I didn't think to check for it, but only because I was a little distracted by her other symptoms."

"Mhm," Maxwell clearly didn't understand this, "So, it's not standard procedure to check for this…thing?"

"The symptoms of it are similar to other diseases, so I was running other tests. If I'd seen any obvious signs for it, of course I would've checked."

"And you had her cremated?" He checked.

"She asked to be. She was young and didn't want her body to be preserved if it were disfigured in the end. Of course, her body was pretty much okay, she'd only just started getting lesions, but she asked and I just wanted to give her what she wanted," Carlisle hung his head.

"Of course," Maxwell nodded in understanding, "Well, I think at most you might lose some money."

"So he won't lose his license?" Esme asked.

"I make no promises, dear lady," He winked again, "But it's unlikely. These sorts of things happen occasionally. Families become upset and what not. I'll begin a case file for you, this will all be over soon," He stood up so the Cullens followed suit, "I'll be in touch," He said dismissively, shaking their hands.

Once outside, Esme turned to Carlisle, "I don't trust him."

"Sweetheart, he's one of the best."

"He's…slimy," Esme said distastefully.

Carlisle laughed, "Aren't all lawyers?"

Esme smiled and allowed him to take her arm, "Let's get back home. We'll have to call the kids."

"Alice might already know," Carlisle replied, "But I suppose we can call them anyway."

Back at the house, Esme grabbed the phone and dialed Edward and Bella's number then sat down on the couch. Carlisle went outside, trying to find something to do; they'd recommended he take some time off until everything blew over. She waited patiently until Bella picked up, "Hello dear, how are things in Montana?" She asked kindly.

"Things are going well," Bella responded, "Everyone arrived safely. What's happening?"

Esme filled her in on what the hospital had said and their meeting with the ever charming Maxwell Snyder.

"He sounds like a winner," Bella laughed, "So I guess there's nothing to do yet?"

"Nope. We're all sitting ducks," Esme sighed, "I hope you don't mind housing them, we all really appreciate it."

"No, no, it's fine. It's always great to see Alice."

"And how's Nessie get along with everyone?" Esme asked conversationally.

"Nessie loves company. She was so excited that Rosalie came, too," Bella laughed, "She's barely left her side."

"And how did Nessie and Kyleigh's first meeting go?"

"Fine," Bella said shortly, "No problems. I should go tell the others what's going on."

"Well, alright," Esme said, sounding puzzled, "Good bye, Bella, stay well."

"You too. Bye Esme," Bella hung up.

Esme furrowed her brow at the phone then put it down and took out her sketch book, resigning herself to yet another waiting game.

**Thanks again for the feedback, please, please, please keep it coming. I get all tingly inside when I read reviews. Anyway, I'm going to speed things along just a bit in the next chapter so bear with me. Stay tuned for chapter 13!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thank you thank you thank you for all the feedback! I'm glad everyone likes Kyleigh. Anyway, here's 13, I own nothing, but Kyleigh. **

"In all your years of school, none of you ever thought it might be a good idea to study law?" Kyleigh said exasperatedly, throwing her huge law book aside. None of them even reacted to the noise it made.

Rosalie looked up from her book and said, "None of us anticipated a law suit in our future."

Kyleigh bit her lip and looked down guiltily. Jasper glanced at Rosalie pointedly then sent a wave of calm towards his girlfriend.

"Besides," Emmet added, "It takes like a million years to get through law school."

"And it requires brains to get in," Jasper grinned.

Emmet glared at him, "My point is none of us had interest in wasting that much time to get a degree in a field we'd never work in."

Rosalie propped her legs up on his thigh, "You'd probably just eat the defendant," She teased.

Emmet growled at her then grabbed her feet, causing her to squeal and kick at him.

Kyleigh turned away as their horseplay continued and alternated between watching the rain trickle down the window and watching Jasper strumming Edward's old guitar. She stifled a sigh, well aware that though the others vehemently swore it wasn't true, this whole thing was her fault. Still, Jasper made it difficult for her to feel guilty; she wasn't sure if this was due to his gift or if it was just the general giddiness that came from his presence.

Regardless of her feelings for Jasper, she now had Rosalie, her sister and ally. She had Emmet, her stereotypically obnoxious older brother (though he made an excellent hunting partner so she couldn't complain). Then there were Esme and Carlisle, going above and beyond for her though she was barely a member of the family.

"Let's just kill them," Emmet suggested, snapping Kyleigh out of her reverie.

Jasper rolled his eyes, "Cause 2 more unexplained deaths isn't suspicious at all."

"Just a suggestion," Emmet shrugged.

"Nice try, babe," Rosalie patted his knee.

"They probably wouldn't taste good anyway," Kyleigh added with a wicked smile.

Emmet grinned at her, "Atta girl!"

"Isn't it a pity, isn't it a shame, how we break each other's hearts and cause each other pain," Jasper sang, lightly strumming the chords to Isn't It a Pity.

"I love that song!" Kyleigh exclaimed.

"Shouldn't you like young people music?" Emmet asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Young people music?" Kyleigh laughed, "What's that?"

"Like Lil Wayne and Taylor Swift."

"Um, I was told I'm too white for rap and…no comment."

"You don't dig Taylor!" Emmet gasped dramatically, "I thought all girls loved her!"

"Not this one," Kyleigh shook her head and moved over to Jasper's side. He smiled at her and held out an arm, pulling her against him then bringing the guitar back down over them as a makeshift lap band. He ducked his head and began playing quietly, then sang into her ear: "You're asking me will my love grow, I don't know, I don't know. Well you stick around and it make show, I don't know, I don't know. Something in the way she moves…"

Kyleigh shut her eyes and allowed Jasper to soothe her soul.

_Darling, you're mean…_

In the 2 months that Carlisle and Esme had had an empty nest, they'd learned 2 things: 1. Having no kids made the house eerily quiet and 2. Lawyers are next to impossible to work with.

"I don't trust him," Esme said to Carlisle.

"It's almost over," Carlisle reminded her, kissing her forehead, "The charges against the hospital were dropped. Anytime now the charges against me will be dropped too."

"Good because I think Kyleigh's ready to come home," Esme told him.

"Why's that?" Carlisle looked surprised.

"I'm not sure she'd had the best welcome."

"From Edward and Bella?"

"Not Edward, but you know how close Alice and Bella are. I'm sensing resentment by association. Plus, Rosalie adores Kyleigh…I think the fact that she accepted Kyleigh so quickly is a thorn in Bella's side."

Carlisle still looked confused, "But it's not Kyleigh's fault that Jasper and Rosalie love her,"

"Well yes, dear, I know, but it's on principle that Bella has to dislike her on Alice's behalf," At Carlisle's puzzled expression, "Oh never mind, it's a girl thing."

"Apparently," Carlisle laughed, "That's quite the waste of emotion. You would think Jasper could help."

"Darling, I think he's probably working overtime to keep Kyleigh calm. Besides, I don't think he can control cattiness."

"Well…Kyleigh's handling it, I'm sure. She may look like a fairy princess, but she's got the strength of an ox…or something to that effect."

Esme stared at him bemusedly, "A fairy princess?"

"Yes! With her long hair and she's so small, if you stuck some wings on her, she'd be-"

Esme pressed a finger to his lips, "Honey, you're delirious. I think you need something to eat."

Carlisle considered this, "I think you're right."

"Of course I am," Esme smiled, "Now go. I'll stay in case Sir Snyder calls." She kissed his cheek then watched him leave. Esme laughed at her husband's silliness then went and sat by the phone.

_Mean to me…_

"Ky," Jasper murmured, watching his leg jump up and down.

"Hmm?"

Jasper clapped a hand on her knee, "You're making me bounce."

"Oh, sorry…" Kyleigh said sheepishly, making an effort to stay still.

"Twitchy," Emmet called across the porch.

Kyleigh stuck her tongue out at him as Rosalie walked in the room, "That was mature," she said dryly, sitting down with Nessie.

"I try," Kyleigh shrugged, tapping her foot against the step beneath her. It was another long day in Montana. They went hunting almost every day, more for sport than food. Jasper gave her a daily guitar lesson, though she still sucked even after 2 months. Kyleigh was hurt that once she'd united with Bella, Alice had given up on trying to be friends with her. Of course, they were civil to her, but sometimes she'd walk into a room and they'd fall silent, making it clear who they were talking about.

Kyleigh jumped when Jasper reached down and held her foot, "Sor-"

"I know," Jasper smiled at her, "You need to relax."

"You can say that as many times as you want, it's still not going to achieve the desired effect."

"How about this?" He stroked her cheek.

"Nope," She shook her head.

"This?" He cupped her face in his hands.

"No," She mumbled.

"Liar," He murmured, kissing her while simultaneously sending a wave of calm towards her.

Kyleigh sighed and sagged against him until he pulled away, "Now?"

Kyleigh nodded and smiled stupidly.

Alice, having seen this sickly romantic moment, cleared her throat loudly, "There's going to be a small trial, no jury. They've dropped the murder charge; apparently the hospital made a case about it. They tried to put together a file to clear Carlisle's charges too, but the judge dismissed it, saying that murder or not, protocol was broken and something needs to be done."

"So this is like a malpractice trial?" Emmet furrowed his brow.

"Right," Alice nodded, keeping her eyes on Kyleigh.

"Well, at least it's not a murder charge," Rosalie declared, trying to sound cheerful.

Alice scoffed, turning away from them.

"She's right, Kyleigh's parents could've gone all Grey's Anatomy on them and went on a killing spree to get revenge," Jasper laughed.

"…since when do you watch Grey's?" Kyleigh said incredulously.

Jasper shrugged, "Back when Rose and Emmet were on their honeymoon and I was single," He stared at Alice's back then turned to Kyleigh, "Esme had it on and I had nothing else to do so I watched it."

"Seattle has the _worst_ SWAT team ever," Kyleigh shuddered.

"I know, it makes me glad we moved. They were horrible," Jasper agreed.

"So are we just pretending like this isn't happening?" Alice interrupted angrily, turning around to face them.

"Of course not," Rosalie glared, "But what, exactly, can we do about it from here?"

Alice didn't have an answer to that and instead opened her mouth to say something about Kyleigh.

"Stop," a soft voice said. They all turned and saw Edward leaning against the door, "Enough, Alice." She opened her mouth, but he cut her off, "I know what you want to say, but please, hold your tongue. She feels guilty enough, and not just about the lawsuit."

Kyleigh stared at Edward wide eyed, feeling a little violated, but then again that's how she typically felt about her other brother.

"If you could hear her thoughts, you'd stop giving her grief and let her be happy. So leave her alone, Alice, let it be."

Alice paused then pushed past Edward out of the room. He nodded to them then called Nessie over and took her inside.

"Wow," Kyleigh said finally, "Well, if she didn't hate me before, she certainly does now."

"Don't say that," Jasper whispered, entwining his fingers with hers. They sat in silence, no one knowing what to say.

"Aw man," Edward groaned suddenly. They all looked at him, "Now I have that song stuck in my head."

"What song?" Rosalie asked.

"That Beatles song!" He sang a few lines vastly out of key, causing them to wince.

"Emmet, let it be!" Kyleigh begged, massaging her ears.

"Well sorry we can't all have perfect voices," Emmet grumbled.

"There's nothing wrong with sucking, as long as you spare everyone else by not singing," Rosalie soothed.

"People are mean."

"Life's not fair," Kyleigh replied.

Emmet sighed wearily, "Who wants to do something?" He asked, standing up.

Rosalie and Jasper rolled their eyes, but Kyleigh jumped to her feet, "Okay! What should we do?"

Emmet shrugged, "I dunno…vandalize some cars?"

Kyleigh grinned and nodded then they darted around the house.

"They probably aren't kidding, right?" Rosalie asked.

"I doubt it," Jasper replied then the 2 of them vaulted after their significant others.

**So I'm leaving for school Tuesday and I don't know when I'll get an internet connection, but I'll keep writing until I do. I'm working on 14 right now. Thank you again for the feedback, please keep reading and reviewing! **


	14. Chapter 14

**Thank you for the feedback! Here's 14…I haven't even started 15 officially, but it's coming. I own nothing, but Kyleigh (and the court people, but whatever). **

Judge McCartney was extremely tall, extremely skinny and extremely old. His dry, papery voice read the charges quickly then he looked expectantly at the gallery. The Montgomery's lawyer stood up and launched into a dramatic opening speech, periodically slapping the table and causing the stacks of paper to jump.

Carlisle was watching the judge carefully, wishing he'd asked Edward to attend the trial so he could read the Judge for him. Esme had half-jokingly lamented the fact that they'd pulled a male judge because a female judge would've been swayed by his good looks. Carlisle eyed McCartney and stifled a smile, _'no way he'll be swayed by me.'_ He barely heard a word of Maxwell's speech, so lost in thought was he.

He could feel the resentment rolling off Esme towards Howard and Helen. As the trial had come closer and closer, she'd become angrier with them. She kept saying that they should be put on trial for abandonment. Carlisle agreed, but repeatedly reminded her that they didn't need any more trouble in their lives. Maxwell kicked him under the table and Carlisle snapped to attention, counting the time till it'd be over.

Meanwhile in Montana, Alice and Bella avoided Kyleigh as often as possible. Not that Kyleigh minded. Under Jacob and Jasper's supervision, she'd play with Renesmee. She and Rosalie had gone out to look at the wild horses (the only reason Kyleigh could resist their blood was because of her avid love of horses). One day, she and Emmet had a Who Can Kill More In 10 Minutes competition (Kyleigh could, thank you very much). She and Edward occasionally sat on the roof and either sat in silence or bickered about the usage of his talent.

Then there was Jasper. Even when they weren't near each other, she would glance up and catch his eye. They rented Steel Magnolias and had a movie night (Kyleigh swore that if vampires could cry, Jasper would've been bawling. He disagreed). He improvised songs for her and Rosalie's amusement. One day, he took her out and they stripped to their underwear so she could see them shine in the sunlight.

Kyleigh and Jasper stayed in the field well into the evening, talking and laughing and kissing. They kissed and kissed and kissed. But in Kyleigh's opinion, the best moment was when Jasper pulled her against his smooth, bare chest, kissed her forehead then her temple and said, "Ky, I care about you more than I probably should…but it doesn't matter as long as you feel the same way." Kyleigh had grinned at him and kissed where his pulse should be, "I feel the same way." She'd whispered then he'd kissed her long and deep. Kyleigh found herself focusing on that moment whenever Alice would come in with an update, his words echoing in her mind like her own personal mantra.

The saving grace of the trial was it would be short. The only people who would go on the stand were Helen, Howard, Carlisle, Carlisle's chief of staff, and Trudy. Emmet kept saying this would be easy, that he'd get off and it'd all be over. Kyleigh wanted to agree, but she was suspicious. In her experience, things that seemed straightforward usually turned out to be difficult. '_Like, for instance, my becoming a vampire'_ she thought bitterly.

"Stop thinking like that, you're giving me an ulcer," Edward complained, sitting down with her, his eyes trained on Jasper and Emmet who were playing with Nessie.

"Vampires can't get ulcers and get the hell out of my head!" Kyleigh said irately.

"Turn your thoughts down," He shot back then grinned, "We have this conversation often."

"We wouldn't have to if you'd focus on someone else's mind."

"True," He conceded, "But this time I felt badly that you were alone. I thought you would like some company."

"Debatable," Kyleigh muttered, staring at Jasper, "Wait a second…" She turned to Edward, "Are you my brother?"

"Well, I suppose so since we have the same 'father.' We don't have the same name though."

"Right," she nodded, turning to Jasper again.

Edward read her thoughts, "If you married him, you'd probably be Hale unless you really wanted to be Whitlock."

"Get. Out. Of. My. Head." Kyleigh growled. Edward laughed at her 'menacing' face and left to join the others.

Kyleigh pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them, smiling when Jasper shook the blonde hair out of his eyes then looked at her and winked. Alice came outside and sat next to her, looking at the sky.

"Anything new?" Kyleigh asked cautiously.

Alice shook her head, "McCartney keeps changing his mind so it could go either way."

Kyleigh nodded, not knowing what to say.

"Esme lectured Bella and me on our attitudes toward you," Alice said, still looking ahead.

Kyleigh followed Alice's line of vision and saw she was watching Jasper, "Oh."

"She requested that we apologize for our catty and childish behavior."

"Oh," Kyleigh said again.

"So I apologize for my catty and childish behavior," She said briskly then got up and went into the house.

"Okay," Kyleigh said to no one.

Jasper paused and gave her a questioning look. Kyleigh shrugged and he nodded then went back to the game.

Next Bella came out and leaned against the railing, "Um, I'm sorry for my catty and childish behavior," She blurted out quickly then went down and took her place by Edward's side.

Kyleigh nodded, not knowing quite how to react to that onslaught.

"Kyleigh!" Came Nessie's beautiful voice, "Come play!"

Kyleigh grinned and tottered into the yard between Jasper and Emmet, ready for anything.

_Ooh, I know…_

"Can you do me a favor?" Kyleigh asked Edward one lazy day, lightly poking him with her toe.

"I thought you didn't like asking for favors because you don't like owing people anything," Edward replied, his eyes still closed.

"Well I don't and…wait how did you know that?"

"From the other day when Bella leant you that sweater,"

"I don't remember saying anything about not liking favors…" Kyleigh eyed him suspiciously, "Were you eavesdropping on my mind again?"

Edward tried to look innocent, "Of course not," He looked at her, deciding to attempt to do that dazzling thing people are always talking about.

Kyleigh didn't look impressed, instead scowling at him, "God I hate hanging out with you."

Edward snorted, "That's a great way to convince me to do something for you."

"I never said I had strong powers of persuasion," She shrugged, "So, will you please do me a favor?" She batted her eyelashes.

"Depends on the favor," Edward said warily, "I'm not going to kill anyone for you."

Kyleigh scoffed, "I could kill someone by myself, I don't need your help in that area. No, I want you to do some of your obnoxious mind reading and tell me why Alice suddenly hates me."

"Oh," Edward clearly had not been expecting this, "Well, I don't really need to read her mind to tell you that…"

"I know part of it is the Jasper thing," Kyleigh waved this away impatiently, "But she was fine towards me until we came here. So what changed?"

"I think she's upset because of what you're doing to the family," Edward said bluntly, "I think she resents the fact that you took her soul mate and now you're bringing a lot of attention to us. I think she's regretting her decision to leave."

Kyleigh slammed her hand down on the roof angrily, causing a dent, "That is not my fault!"

"I'm not saying it's fair," Edward stared at the dent in his roof, "I just think it's a delayed reaction to the Jasper thing because when Bella wreaked havoc in our lives, that didn't bother her. Perhaps she was looking for a reason to dislike you," Edward suggested.

"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard," Kyleigh muttered, "Of all the idiotic reasons to hate someone…"

"I think that having someone take your soul mate then cause a small scandal in the family is good grounds to dislike someone, actually," Edward said conversationally, "Though it is partly her fault for stepping away from him to allow you to come in to our lives."

Kyleigh scoffed, "That's ridiculous."

"You asked," Edward shrugged, "She's dealing with this in her own way. It's a little out of character for Alice to feel that malicious, but then again being away for 5 years probably changes someone."

"Like Sweeney Todd," Kyleigh said very seriously.

Edward gave her a questioning look.

"You've never watched Sweeney Todd?" Kyleigh asked exasperatedly, "God, what is wrong with this family? Towards the end of the show he says to Judge Turpin 'years no doubt have changed me' or whatever."

"So…are you implying that at some point Alice is going to pose as a barber and go on a killing spree?"

Kyleigh threw her head back and laughed, "Not intentionally, but you never know. I'm fairly certain I know who her first victim would be."

Edward snorted, "Are you saying you're a psychic now?"

"Oh please," Kyleigh rolled her eyes, "Although it's not fair, I didn't get a special power."

"Not everyone gets a 'special power' and I wouldn't exactly call them gifts all the time."

"Still, they can be useful," Kyleigh insisted.

"True, true. Oh well, what can you do?" Edward looked towards the sky again.

Kyleigh hummed to herself and tapped her feet.

"Can you not stay still?" Edward asked after a few moments.

"Hm?" Kyleigh paused in the tapping of her feet.

"You never can just sit still and relax? You're always moving!"

"So?"

"It's just…exhausting."

"You're not the one moving!"

"Just looking at you makes me tired," Edward laughed.

"Just talking to you makes me tired," Kyleigh muttered.

"Hey, I did you a favor, I explained things to you," Edward pointed out.

"This is why I don't ask for favors, then the person can hold it over my head for the rest of eternity."

"Quite literally," He smirked.

"Believe me, I don't plan on staying here for my whole afterlife."

"Are you not enjoying yourself?" Edward raised his eyebrows.

"I am, I just want to get away from everyone…plus, I don't like pine trees," She glanced at the forest surrounding them.

"…You don't like pine trees," Edward repeated incredulously.

"Nope. Never have."

"May I ask why?" Edward said, trying to make sense of her.

"They're kind of depressing…I mean, the only time anyone ever pays attention to them is at Christmas…and when you think about it, the whole time you're dancing around your Christmas tree, the damn thing is slowly dying…plus the sap is disgusting and refuses to come off."

"Ah," Edward said finally, "Okay."

Kyleigh nodded and looked away from the pine trees.

"Well, on that note," Edward began crawling across the roof towards the window, "I think I'll go put my daughter to bed."

"Okie dokie," Kyleigh called, "Good night."

"Night," Edward ducked into the house.

Kyleigh laid back and propped her head up on her arms, shutting her eyes and relaxing.

"Psst, Kyleigh," She heard from below her.

She sat up and looked around, "Who's there?"

"It's me," Came the voice.

"Gee, that was specific," She rolled her eyes, "Let's try this again: who's there?"

Suddenly Emmet popped his head up from under the roof, "BOO!"

Kyleigh shrieked and leapt away from him, clapping a hand over her mouth.

Emmet was shaking with laughter, holding himself up with his arms while the rest of his body dangled down the side of his house, "Man, it never gets old."

Kyleigh glared at him, "That so wasn't funny."

"Oh, but it was," He smirked, "Come on."

"No way, I'm not going anywhere with you," She shook her head resolutely.

"Kyleigh, come on," Emmet said again.

"Nu-uh, nope."

"You've left me no choice," He sighed wearily then grabbed her ankles and pulled her down the roof with him so they flew through the air. At the last second, he caught them, landing on the ground on his feet, grinning like the freaking Cheshire cat.

"I hate you," Kyleigh hissed, "I hate you so much."

"I caught you before you hit the ground!" He replied, "Don't complain to me," He began carrying her towards the woods.

"Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise."

"I don't like surprises and I don't trust you," Kyleigh grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You could fight me," Emmet pointed out.

"Not worth it," She shrugged, "So, what are we doing?"

"It's a surprise," He repeated, beginning to run through the forest, dodging trees.

"Put me down, I like running."

"You have absolutely no idea where we're going," Emmet laughed, "You'd probably hit a tree or something."

"Will not! I have vampire grace now."

"Liars burn in hell," He replied, finally stopping in a clearing. He unceremoniously dropped her to the ground, but she flipped and landed on her feet at the last second, "Here we go."

"Where are we?" Kyleigh looked around at the dark trees, feeling uneasy.

"Montana," Came a familiar southern drawl from the woods behind her.

Kyleigh turned and saw Jasper emerge from the trees, his honey blonde hair shining in the moonlight.

"Well, I knew that," She laughed, instantly feeling calm in her boyfriend's presence.

Jasper held out his hands which she took. He pulled her against him and ducked his head down, inhaling the scent of her hair.

"Jasper, don't get distracted," Rosalie scolded, jumping out of a tree and crossing over to Emmet, holding a small package.

"Sorry," Jasper didn't look apologetic, stepping back from Kyleigh though still holding her hand in hers.

"So are we doing this or not?" Emmet asked impatiently, pulling a book of matches out of his pocket.

"Would you be patient," Rosalie laughed, holding out candles she'd produced from nowhere for him to light.

Kyleigh sang under her breath, "Would you light my candle…"

Jasper gave her a questioning look.

"It's from the show _RENT_," Kyleigh informed them, not bothering to complain yet again about how culturally deprived they were.

"Ah," Jasper nodded, not asking.

"What are we doing?" Kyleigh asked him, biting her lip, trying to look sexy so he'd tell her what she wanted.

"Not gonna work, Ky," Jasper laughed, "Leave the persuasion to me."

Kyleigh sighed and watched Rosalie putting the candles around in a circle, Emmet doing some ridiculous tribal dance behind her.

"Come on," Jasper took her hand and led her over to the edge of the circle, pulling her down to the ground with him, "I think you'll enjoy this."

"It's a new tradition," Emmet informed her, sitting across from them, his face orange from the fire.

"Oh," Kyleigh nodded, "Good to know."

Rosalie sat down next to Emmet and smiled at Kyleigh, "We wanted to do something special for you."

"Plus, Emmet found the candles and well…Emmet likes fire," Jasper laughed, "So he wanted to do something with them."

"The problem was you're not legally adopted or married into the family," Rosalie fidgeted with the package, "But we figured you're still one of us."

Emmet nodded, "Sis," He grinned.

"For the time being, you should probably take the name Cullen," Rosalie gave Jasper a sly look, "Since it'd be creepy if you took the name Hale. Plus, you don't look like me or Jasper."

"And there's nothing wrong with that," Jasper assured her, taking her hand and squeezing it.

Kyleigh nodded slowly, trying to figure out where they were going with this.

"Since there wasn't a wedding or any sort of ceremony, we thought we'd make one," Emmet finished impatiently, "Can we start now?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes good naturedly at her husband, "Alright, alright. So, Kyleigh," She turned to her new sister, "As you know, we are a very unconventional family," She paused while the others snorted, "And we have to pretend like we're siblings, so we all need the same name. But it's more than that, it's a sense of union. Of…companionship and understanding," Rosalie said dramatically, "I don't know if you've noticed,"

"Probably not, she's not exactly observant," Emmet muttered, "Ow," He grunted, shying away from Rosalie's hand.

"Anyway, I don't know if you've noticed, but we all wear a crest," She pointed to her neck where a large pendant was hanging from a thin chain. Jasper and Emmet held out their wrists to show the thick leather bands there, "Bella and Alice have them too. The girls get to be more creative with their styles…well the boys could have been too, but they were boring and all have the same bracelet," She pulled out the long, thin package again and stroked the box with one finger, smiling at it before passing it to Emmet who shook it lightly and winked at Kyleigh. He stretched it over to Jasper who cradled it and kissed the box lightly then handed it to Kyleigh.

Kyleigh took it gingerly in her hands then looked at all of their smiling faces; if she had tear ducts, she would've been crying. She gently lifted the cover off the box and slid aside the flimsy layer of tissue paper, revealing a necklace.

"Pull it out," Rosalie whispered encouragingly, her eyes sparkling in the candlelight.

Kyleigh did as she was told, catching the pendant with her fingers and admiring it. It had antique silver set around a smooth pendant that held the intricate Cullen crest. Kyleigh toyed with it lightly, too emotional to speak.

"Turn it over," Jasper murmured in her ear, "There's something on the back."

Kyleigh glanced at him questioningly then flipped it over, squinting to make out the small script. '_What doesn't kill me makes me stronger.'_ It read.

"One of our favorite quotes, right?" Emmet grinned at her.

Kyleigh put a hand over her mouth, so thankful that she couldn't cry anymore, "Oh my God, you guys," She whispered.

Jasper took the necklace from her and put it around her neck, clasping it quickly. It fell perfectly, not too long, not too short.

"It's…it's amazing," Kyleigh laughed softly, lightly touching a finger to it.

"I'm so glad you like it," Rosalie beamed, moving over and hugging the smaller girl, "Welcome to the family, Kyleigh Cullen."

"That sounds so weird," Emmet laughed, "No offense."

"Way to kill the mood," Kyleigh said, her voice muffled in Rosalie's hair, "Thank you," She whispered to her.

Rosalie nodded and pulled away so Jasper could tug her back into his arms and kiss her forehead.

"Thank you," Kyleigh said to him as well, turning around and throwing her arms around his neck, kissing him fiercely, "Even though this makes me your sister."

"Don't think like that," Jasper advised, pushing the hair out of her face.

Emmet clambered over and clapped her on the shoulder, "Welcome to the family, sis!"

"Thanks, bro," She replied dryly, "This was quite the ceremony."

Rosalie shrugged, "We were bored. There's _nothing_ to do around here."

"I know, right!" Kyleigh agreed, happy she wasn't the only one who thought that.

"It'll all be over soon," Jasper repeated the words Carlisle kept saying whenever they spoke on the phone.

Kyleigh resisted the urge to roll her eyes, instead watching the candles flicker in the late night breeze.

_It's coming back…_

"Dr. Cullen, can you tell us how Kyleigh first became your patient?" Maxwell Snyder asked, standing in front of him.

Carlisle nodded, "It was a few months after I began working at the hospital, so about 5 years ago was when I met her. I went into the ER for something and saw her curled up in a corner, shaking. No one seemed to be helping her so I approached her. That's when I realized how ill she was. I admitted her as my patient and began searching for any information I could find on her. One of the nurses, Trudy, who had treated her before, gave me a scarce chart and told me that Kyleigh was HIV positive. I immediately began treatment, but it was almost 3 days before she became coherent."

"What then?" Maxwell leaned lazily against the table.

"The hospital tried to contact her family, but to no avail. I wrote her prescriptions then helped her find an apartment."

"She could afford an apartment?" Maxwell asked.

"Well," Carlisle looked down, "She couldn't. So I paid for it. I also paid her health bills."

"That was quite generous of you, Dr. Cullen," Maxwell told him honestly.

"She was like a daughter to me," Carlisle murmured.

"It must've been hard to let her go," He replied sympathetically.

"It was," Carlisle nodded, "A doctor never wants to lose a patient, but I couldn't blame her for wanting to be done. At first, I vehemently advised against it, but I realized that she wasn't taking this decision lightly and it would only be cruel for me to force her into continuing treatment. HIV is an awful disease to live with and she had it for 6 years. From a medical standpoint, I understood. But from a personal standpoint, I was selfish, not ready to let her go when I'd only known her for a short amount of time. I did what I had to do because it was what she'd asked me to do and I would do _anything_ for her. It nearly killed me, but I did it. For her, I did." He finished. All were silent.

"Nothing further," Maxwell murmured, going to his seat.

The Montgomery's lawyer, Wally Westleworth, stood up, eyeing Carlisle coolly, "How touching. You cared enough to rent her an apartment, pay her bills and kill her. That's sweet."

"Objection, your Honor," Maxwell called, "Was there a question in that soliloquy?"

"Sustained," McCartney croaked out, "Watch it, counselor."

Wally didn't even blink, "You say you tried to contact her family 5 years ago?"

"Yes," Carlisle said evenly.

"Unsuccessfully?"

"Clearly."

"Did you try again the next time she came to the hospital?"

"Yes."

"And the next?"

"Yes," Carlisle answered tiredly.

"How hard did you try?"

"Come again?"

"How hard," Wally repeated slowly, "Did you try. As in how many attempts per stay?"

"Several. We never received a response."

"When did you decide to give up?"

"I wouldn't say we gave up. Kyleigh asked us to stop trying once she turned 17. She said we were wasting energy."

"17," Wally considered this, "She wasn't legally an adult then, doctor. Did you truly think that was wise?"

"No, but then again, I don't think abandoning your child is wise. We tried for years and never heard a word."

Helen flew to her feet, "He lies," She hissed angrily, "We _never_ got a call or notification from any hospital. _Ever._"

"Objection," Maxwell, too, was on his feet.

"We _never_ heard word of what had happened to our baby. He killed my little girl!" She shrieked, fake tears rolling down her cheeks.

"_Objection_, your Honor!"

"Quiet!" McCartney roared. All froze; even the tears on Helen's cheeks stopped, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I must ask you to leave. You are disrupting my court room."

Carlisle watched as Helen swelled indignantly, "This isn't over," She whispered dangerously, "It won't be over until he is dead," She pointed a shaking finger at him, "Until there is justice." She waved away the bailiffs, tottering up the aisle, laughing hysterically. Harold stared after her then quietly got up and followed.

"I don't know about all of you," Judge McCartney sighed after a few moments, "But I need a recess. Court will resume in 15 minutes." He declared then got up and went to his chambers.

**I'm very sorry that things will be a bit slower. I start college tomorrow and my orientation schedule is booked, but I'll keep writing, I just can't promise I'll be posting quite as regularly. But please, please, please, please keep reviewing for me =0) I'll update as soon as possible! Oh and sorry if my court knowledge is shaky. **


	15. Chapter 15

**Woo! One day of orientation left! Anyway, here's the next chapter. I needed a bit more drama to add excitement cause I was getting bored. Bear with me, please. I own nothing, but Kyleigh. Enjoy!**

"Oh my God…" Carlisle heard Esme murmur two days after Helen Montgomery's outburst.

"What is it?" Carlisle called over his shoulder, adjusting his tie in the mirror, getting ready to go to the hospital for a meeting.

"Carlisle," Esme's voice was shaking.

Carlisle crossed into the room where she was, clapping his hands over her shoulders and leading her to the bed and having her sit down, "What's wrong?"

Esme handed him the newspaper she'd been holding wordlessly, staring at him sadly.

Carlisle perused the headlines until he saw it:

Local Doctor Charged With Murder of Patient

Carlisle flipped quickly to the page his story was on, reading the bull shenanigans Helen had spilled across the local news page. When he was done reading, he met Esme's worried eyes. She looked back at him, not knowing what to say.

Carlisle silently got up and called Maxwell, rousing his obnoxious lawyer from his bed. Maxwell groggily went outside to fetch his paper then flipped through it, "Ah," He said finally, seeming to be more awake with the news.

"Right," Carlisle leaned against the wall, "Now what?"

"Damage control," Maxwell replied shortly, "We'll fight back with your statement of innocence. I have a friend who can write an anonymous story about Helen and Harold abandoning Kyleigh. If we can prove Helen to be unstable and unreliable, then this will blow over."

Carlisle didn't feel convinced as he hung up with Maxwell, who was already calling his friend and putting together a press release for Carlisle. He turned to Esme, who was standing behind him, "I guess I'll go to work then," He kissed her forehead and made for the door.

"Do I tell them?" Esme asked quietly.

Carlisle paused, "Yes. If Alice was watching the Montgomery's she might already know, but just to be safe, I'd call. It's not like they're sleeping," He kissed her softly then turned and went into the hazy morning.

Esme turned and picked up the phone, already dreading the conversation. She prayed that Jasper, Rosalie or Edward would answer.

The phone rang in Montana and Kyleigh pounced on it, knowing it would be Esme and wanting to hear her 'mother's' soothing voice, "Hello?"

"Hello…Kyleigh?" Esme checked.

"Yup, it's me," Kyleigh flopped down on the arm chair behind her, "How are you?"

"I'm alright," Esme lied, "How are you doing? Is everything better in Montana?"

"You mean since you forced Bella and Alice into apologizing to me?" Kyleigh asked shrewdly.

Esme laughed, chagrined, "Yes. I asked them to be subtle."

Kyleigh burst out laughing, "I don't think they got that memo, but things are great in Montana now," she lightly outlined her new necklace with a finger, "I've been inducted into the family."

Esme furrowed her delicate brow, "Inducted?"

"It's kind of a long story, but the crest was bestowed upon me."

"Oh!" Esme remembered now, "Yes, they told us they'd had a crest made for you. Well, congratulations Kyleigh Cullen," Esme smiled temporarily pushing her bad news out of her mind.

"Thank you, Esme," Kyleigh smiled happily, "So, anything new happening?"

"Oh you know, the usual," Kyleigh was the last person Esme wanted to explain all of this to, "I was hoping to get a chance to speak to Jasper or Rosalie or Edward, whomever's available right now."

Kyleigh looked at the phone surprised, "Well, alright, I'll go find one of them," She turned and saw Jasper just inside the door, as always watching her, "I suppose I shouldn't be shocked that you'd be here."

Jasper smiled at her and held out his hand, "Esme?" He guessed.

Kyleigh nodded then got up and handed off the phone, brushing past him to find entertainment elsewhere.

Jasper waited until she was out of earshot before he put the phone to his ear, "Esme," He said as a greeting.

"Jasper," Esme said in relief, "I needed to talk to someone other than Kyleigh for a little while."

"What's going on?" He asked, sitting down, ramrod straight on the arm chair.

"I thought it was getting better until today," Esme lifted the paper again with shaking hands.

"What happened?" He didn't seem fazed.

"The other day, Helen, Kyleigh's mom, had this dramatic outburst at the court room and declared that she wouldn't rest until there was justice…actually, she said she wouldn't rest until Carlisle was dead," Jasper smirked slightly when he heard this, "But regardless, I think she's found her revenge."

"Alright," Jasper prepared himself for the worst.

"She went to the press and now there are headlines on the first page saying that Carlisle murdered one of his patients and inside, there's a full story about it."

"Oh," Jasper nodded, "That's all?"

"Jasper!" Esme said exasperatedly, "She's trying to ruin Carlisle's reputation to get him fired."

"But…" Jasper trailed off, "But, as long as it doesn't affect that Judge's decision, does it matter? It'd be better than a murder charge."

"I know that," Esme shut her eyes, "But when Carlisle's charges get dropped, the public will still remember this. They won't be willing to go to him as a physician and eventually, the hospital will let him go."

"So we move again, that'd be fine," Jasper couldn't grasp the problem.

"This will be on record," Esme shook her head, "When he goes for a new job and someone does some digging into his past, they'll see this and what I'm sure will be other articles against him. It's just such unnecessary attention."

"Oh," Jasper finally started to get it, "Well…I think," He ran his fingers through his tousled blonde hair, "I think it'd be best to focus on the trial right now. Let's get the charges dropped because at least that way, a statement can be released saying he was proven innocent."

"I know, I know," Esme had a hand over her eyes, "I don't know why I'm such a mess right now."

"It's a lot to take in," Jasper soothed, "You've done well so far, this could just be a little breaking point right now."

Esme allowed her quietest son to talk her into a state of calm, pretending that he was there to use his powers on her, "You're right, you're right," She murmured.

"Has Carlisle called that Snyder guy?"

"First thing," She opened her eyes again, "He's already working on a statement. And he's going to try and get a story about Kyleigh's abandonment out there."

"To make her seem unreliable," Jasper nodded again, "I think that's all you can do for the time being."

"I know," Esme stood up and began pacing, "I'm just so…angry!" She burst out, "I can't believe that woman!"

Jasper leaned back against the pillows, waiting for the inevitable rant.

"She abandoned her fatally ill child _years_ ago and _never, never_ looked for her. She left her for dead!" Esme slammed a hand down on the table, "If you could've heard her the other day in court screaming at Carlisle about how he killed her 'baby.' She killed her own damn baby!" Esme was pacing faster and faster, "I don't know what that woman's problem is. _She_ needs to be locked up. _She_ should be put on trial for murder because if it weren't for Carlisle, Kyleigh would have died _years_ ago!" She put a hand to her face, suddenly embarrassed to be losing it to her son, "I'm sorry, Jasper, you didn't need to hear that."

Jasper shrugged, "I'm used to girl rants. I'm with Kyleigh a lot. She rants. Usually not about impending law suits and her vendettas against other people…That's a lie, she rants about Edward often."

"Edward?" Esme stopped pacing, "Why would she rant about Edward?"

"She doesn't like his eavesdropping," Jasper smirked, happy that for once a girl chose him over his supposedly charming and attractive brother.

"His eaves…oh," Esme let out a small giggle, "Well, I could see how if you're not used to that, it could get annoying."

Jasper determined it would be best to distract her, "Drives her crazy. I think it amuses him to do it. Periodically, you'll hear her shout 'Get out of my head!'" He mimicked her voice perfectly, "then you'll hear a low chuckle."

Esme put a hand over her mouth, laughing, "Oh my," She waited for more insight into their life in Montana.

"And sometimes she tries to guess what he's thinking so he'll understand how she feels…but Edward doesn't usually think about Johnny Depp, so she's always wrong."

Esme laughed again, wishing she could be in Montana with them.

"The other day, Rosalie braided flowers into Kyleigh's hair and Emmet destroyed a few tables to make a dance floor and I tried to teach Kyleigh how to waltz. Then Emmet tried to teach her how to tango and nearly broke her in half, so I took over."

"How'd she do?" Esme asked, smiling through her words.

"She wasn't that bad. She has good rhythm. We think she'd be more suited for that fast paced dances, like the samba or whatever."

"…Jasper, have you been watching _Dancing with the Stars_," Esme asked suspiciously.

"No!" Jasper insisted, "Rosalie was the other night. I absorbed through osmosis."

"Mhm, sure, sweetheart, sure," She humored him.

Jasper grumbled under his breath, glaring at the phone.

"Well, I'm glad you guys are having a good time," Esme said, wistfully.

"We're making the best of it. When all of this is over, you can come out and visit…though I think Kyleigh's already planning our next destination," Jasper admitted.

"Really?" Esme wasn't that surprised, "Where does she want to go?"

Jasper resisted the urge to say 'anywhere' and instead said: "Originally she said Australia…but she hates flying and it's a little sunny there so I told her to pick someplace else. So then she was thinking of Ireland or Scotland. I told her I'd go anywhere with her," Jasper realized how cheesy he sounded, "But I meant more as a guardian than as a pathetic, love thing…"

"I'm sure you did," Esme said 'seriously.'

"Well, she needs a guardian since she's such a disaster sometimes and she needs someone to keep her emotions in check since she can fly off the handle and-"

"Jasper," Esme cut him off, "It's alright. I understand."

"Right," Jasper got control of himself, "So, is there anymore news?"

"Nope. We're waiting on McCartney's decision now," Esme sighed; they had officially rested the day before, having heard testimony from everyone, "But it's also early in the morning, so we'll probably hear later today."

"That's the spirit," Jasper encouraged, "What should I tell them?" He thought of how sensitive this topic was to Kyleigh.

"Um," Esme bit her lip, thinking, "Just…well," She broke off, thinking, "Okay, focus on the positive part that Judge McCartney will make a decision anytime now. Probably today," Esme didn't want to think about what the decision would be, "Then…Maybe we shouldn't say anything?"

"Kyleigh will know something's up if you asked to talk to someone else," Jasper pointed out, "We can downplay it. I'll tell them that the press has heard about the lawsuit and that Carlisle's lawyer is already working on it. It's not too uncommon. I'm sure something else will happen in the news that will take over," Jasper lied a bit; not much would probably happen in Oregon.

"Okay," Esme nodded, grasping to his relaxed attitude, "Thank you for everything, Jasper. I mean it. When all of this is over, I will pay you back."

"Don't worry about it, Esme," Jasper shook her off, "You guys gave me my humility…and Kyleigh," He added quietly, "I'll go talk to them now. Hang in there, Esme. If you start to get freaked out, call again and I'll listen, but you could also just imagine the bickering that goes on between Edward and Kyleigh. Bye Esme."

"Bye Jasper," She hung up with him, smiling.

Jasper hung up and went into the other part of the house. He nodded to Alice and Bella, who were sitting in the main room with Nessie. He saw Emmet, who was under one of the cars, doing God knows what. Kyleigh and Rosalie were sitting on the back deck, heads bent together, talking and laughing. Jasper watched them for a minute, smiling about how his "twin" had finally made a close friend.

Kyleigh looked up and smiled at him, "We've found the meaning of life."

Jasper raised his eyebrows, "I'm impressed. I left you for about 20 minutes."

"We work fast," Rosalie winked at him.

"Clearly. So, what is the meaning of life, girls?" He prepared himself for something ridiculous.

"It's all about pain," Kyleigh informed him.

Jasper wasn't expecting this, "Pain?" He repeated.

"Yes, pain," Rosalie nodded, "It's about feeling pain and overcoming it. Because overcoming pain gives you strength and you need strength to survive this world."

"That's…surprisingly deep. I was expecting Johnny Depp."

"No, Johnny is the path to nirvana," Kyleigh corrected, "Masochism and pain are the meaning of life. Think about it: we torture ourselves all the time; like with exercise to have a better body, studying harder to get a good job, etc, etc, but it builds up our character or whatever," She shrugged, "It made sense in our heads."

"Well…It makes sense," Jasper tried, "Kind of."

"Don't humor us, Darling," Kyleigh laughed, going over and wrapped her arms around him, "So, what did Esme want?"

Jasper opened his mouth to answer then stopped, looking into her black eyes, "She needed an objective view of something."

"And I couldn't give her that?" Kyleigh furrowed her brow.

Jasper reached down and smoothed it, "I meant she needed someone who could think in a clearer cut, black and white type of way."

"Ah," Kyleigh considered this, "I can see why she went for you. Though, she asked for you or Rosalie or Edward."

"Rosalie and Edward have been around longer than you have, sweetheart, they have more experience in this field," Jasper lied some more.

Rosalie watched him suspiciously, sensing that he was lying. Kyleigh pressed her face against his rock hard chest and she caught his eye, cocking a perfect brow. He subtly shook his head, saying in his mind he'd tell her later. Though his sister couldn't read minds, she perceived this and went back to scrolling through Kyleigh's iPod.

"Rosalie," Kyleigh said, pulling away from Jasper.

"Hm?" She didn't look up, still perusing Kyleigh's music.

"Where's your husband?"

Rosalie laughed, "I have no clue."

"He was doing something to the cars last I saw," Jasper put his hand on the back of Kyleigh's neck lightly because he enjoyed watching her shudder from the pressure.

On cue, Kyleigh shivered and he grinned in satisfaction.

"Oh God," Rosalie laughed again, "He's going to mess something up and I'll have to fix it later."

"You'd think he'd know what he's doing since he's with you all the time."

"Emmet doesn't exactly observe what I'm doing."

"Nope, he just observes you," Kyleigh gave her a sly smile.

Rosalie stuck her tongue out at her then shook her head, "God, I'm hanging out with you too much, I'm picking up your 'mature' mannerisms."

"You love it," Kyleigh winked.

"Why were you asking for him anyway?" Jasper interrupted.

"I was thinking of asking him to amuse me," Kyleigh shrugged.

"You could go hunting," Rosalie suggested, "Your eyes have a reddish tint to them,"

Kyleigh groaned, "That's getting _so_ old. I want pretty eyes."

"I think the red is very becoming on you," Jasper soothed.

She batted her eyelashes dramatically, "Really?"

"Really," He nodded seriously, "Brings out the red in your hair."

She glared at him, "I'm gonna go find Emmet. You guys want to come hunting, we can have another competition."

"I'll pass," Rosalie said smoothly, "We went hunting the other day."

"I think Rosalie's anorexic," Kyleigh 'whispered' to Jasper.

"Ha, ha, very funny," Rosalie glared at Kyleigh.

Kyleigh smiled sweetly at her, "How about you?" She poked Jasper's chest.

He poked her forehead, "I'm all set. I like hunting with you alone."

"Aw," Kyleigh grinned at him and he leaned down and kissed her.

"I have to do all the work in this relationship," He complained when he pulled away.

"What do you mean?" Kyleigh laughed.

"I have to duck down for you whenever I want to kiss you," He stood up straight to emphasize the height difference.

"Well, I can't exactly make myself grow," She pointed out, "You'll get over it. You've done very well so far," She grabbed his shirt and attempted to pull him down to her. Kyleigh was still a little weak…plus Jasper was extremely strong. He humored her and ducked down again, pressing his cool lips against hers.

Rosalie smiled at their little display, pleased to see Jasper happy again, "Okay, love birds, break it up. Kyleigh, go hunting. Show my man up, he needs an ego blow."

Kyleigh saluted them then frolicked off to find Emmet. Rosalie waited till she was gone then turned to Jasper, "Tell me," She commanded.

Jasper sat down across from her and proceeded to tell her everything Esme had said. Rosalie nodded as she took this in, "So…this could really damage us."

"Potentially. It all depends on how well Maxwell and his friend spin their stories to discredit Helen."

"Oh," Rosalie considered this, "So you're not telling her?"

"I was going to, but…" Jasper trailed off, looking away.

"But you don't want to upset her anymore," Rosalie finished, "Don't you think she'll be even more upset when she finds out you lied?"

"Yes, I know," Jasper shook his head, "I know how it works. She just feels so guilty all the time and she was just beginning to deal with it and now…it's bad enough that we're in a holding pattern while the judge guy makes his decision. I don't want her to be freaking out anymore than she already is."

Rosalie sighed then lightly touched his cheek, "You need to tell her. When she gets back with Emmet, tell her before the dynamic duo," Rosalie wrinkled her nose slightly, "Find out. Because you know they'll rip her apart and if she has no idea then it will be 10 thousand times worse."

Jasper nodded, "Okay. Okay. I can do it," He nodded, taking a more military stance, "As soon as she gets back…that means we shouldn't tell anyone else."

"We could tell Edward," Rosalie pointed out.

"Tell me what?" Edward asked, rubbing at his tousled hair as he stepped into the morning.

Jasper and Rosalie looked at each other, "Okay fine, I'll explain," Rosalie said irately, quickly going over everything Jasper had just told her.

Edward absorbed this, "Okay," He said when she'd finished.

"Okay?" Rosalie raised her eyebrows.

"Okay," He retorted.

Rosalie stared at him, "There's nothing 'okay' about it."

"I've come to expect bad news," He shrugged, "And there's not much point in getting riled up. It's just a newspaper article."

"That's what I said!" Jasper agreed.

"Well then, it's all fine."

"What's all fine?" Alice asked, holding hands with Nessie as they came in.

Edward opened his mouth to respond, but stopped when he caught Jasper and Rosalie's eyes, "Life," He improvised quickly, "Life is fine the way it is now."

"It is," She said blankly, releasing Nessie's hand who ran over to her father, "Because last time I checked, you were harboring a supposedly dead girl mostly against her wishes while a law suit wreaked havoc on the family."

"Right," Edward nodded, "And that's fine. I think we're all used to this by now."

Alice resisted the urge to roll her eyes and kept her thoughts in check so Edward wouldn't flip on her again, "Okay." She shrugged, "If you say so."

Edward nodded and smiled at her. Jasper and Rosalie subtly backed away, Rosalie taking Nessie's hand and leading her back to the stairs where she'd been sitting. Jasper sat across from the girls and looked out into the woods, trying to formulate what he would say to Kyleigh when she returned.

**Realistically, the ending is probably in the near future…not immediate future, but still pretty near which makes me sad. I love Kyleigh and I love that you guys love her! As I've said, I'm at school now, my posts might be a bit more sporadic, but I will update as often as possible. So please read and review! Please! More to come. **


	16. Chapter 16

**Thank you for my review! Here's the next chapter, I haven't even started the next chapter, not gonna lie. Anyway, I own nothing, but Kyleigh.**

Emmet crossed his arms over his ample chest and watched as Kyleigh took down an antelope as a warm up. Once she was done with that, he called over to her, "There are black bears and grizzlies around here, you know?" He smirked.

Kyleigh wiped her mouth and grinned, "Which ones more aggressive?"

"Grizzly," He replied, "Maybe you should go for a black bear to start."

Kyleigh shot a murderous look at him then began moving slowly through the woods, all her senses heightened to the point of ecstasy. With Kyleigh around, Emmet didn't even have to try to look for food, because her skills were so sharp. He watched as her entire body tightened then he took off after her.

Together, Emmet and Kyleigh nabbed 2 grizzlies a piece then Kyleigh got bored and got a black bear as well. They were laughing and punching at each other as they walked back to Edward and Bella's (no need to rush, there wasn't anything to do there anyway).

"You know Kyleigh," Emmet put a hand on top of her head because she was so short, "I like having you in the family."

"Why?" She ducked away from him, "Because you have someone new to torture?"

"No, well yes, but no," Emmet shook his head, "I meant because now I have a good hunting partner who's willing to go whenever."

"Ah, well, in that case, good! I was expecting something mean."

"Women just can't take compliments," Emmet sighed.

"And men can't ask for directions, what silly creatures we are," Kyleigh quipped back, enjoying making him laugh because of what she said and not because of her running into something.

"You certainly are entertaining, even when you're making our lives all topsy turvy."

"Did you really just use the phrase 'topsy turvy?'" Kyleigh snorted.

"Shut up," Emmet mumbled.

"Oh wow," Kyleigh shook her head and giggled again, "I'll have to write that one down for future reference."

"I could probably break you if I wanted to," Emmet tried to threaten her.

"And Jasper could definitely kill you," She smiled at him, "Isn't that fun?"

"What is with you today? You're all…bubbly…It's freaking me out."

"Aren't I always bubbly?" She raised her eyebrows.

"No, sometimes you're like depressed…then sometimes you're sort of bubbly, but still kind of out of it and today you're just on drugs."

"I'm fairly certain you're the one taking drugs," She rolled her eyes, jumping up a tree and swinging from branch to branch, "I just feel so good today! I feel, for lack of a better word, alive. I just have this feeling that everything will be okay." She screamed with laughter as she launched herself from a branch on to Emmet's back.

He barely felt her land on him, "I think you've lost it."

"Shh," She swatted his head, still on his back, "Don't ruin this for me."

"Do I look like a camel?" He complained, trying to dislodge her.

"Kind of. If we put a rug thing on you and if you started spitting at people we could give out camel rides."

"Yeah, you're on drugs," Emmet determined.

"I'll buy a turban and be your owner. It'll be so much fun! And if the kids get all bratty, we can just eat them!" Kyleigh squealed.

Emmet snorted and rolled his eyes, "Weren't you guys the one who said we don't need any more unexplained murders?"

"Oh yeah…" Kyleigh sighed, deflated, "Way to kill the mood."

"Wait, wait, wait," Emmet stopped, "Don't be all depressed! I like druggie Kyleigh!"

"Then what were you complaining before for?" She asked exasperatedly.

"I just meant that it's different which isn't necessarily a bad thing, really," He assured her.

"Oh fine," She settled herself comfortably on his back, "See, this is nice, we aren't running through the woods, you aren't trying to kidnap me or injure me. Isn't it nice that we can bond without bodily injury?"

"Sure, I guess," Emmet wasn't listening.

"Later, you can get a video camera and watch Jasper slather my body in chocolate sauce which he will lick off despite the fact that he is a vampire and vampires don't eat chocolate, but still, it will make for a great video that you will produce."

"Sounds good," Emmet nodded, still wandering towards the ranch.

Kyleigh rolled her eyes, "If you'd actually paid attention, you would've said 'ew.'"

"Wait what?" Emmet asked, turning his head to look at her.

"Oh never mind," Kyleigh grumbled, "Are we even going the right way?"

"Of course we are!" Emmet replied indignantly, "Are you doubting my sense of direction."

"Yes," Kyleigh said honestly, "For all we know, we could be half way to Alaska by now."

"Nope, we're going the right way. I'm sure of it." He insisted.

Kyleigh sighed dramatically, "If we end up with the Eskimos, I blame you."

"Well will not," Emmet growled, "End up with the Eskimos so sh!"

Kyleigh propped her elbows up on his neck and cupped her hands under her chin.

"What are you doing up there anyway?" He asked her after a few silent moments of walking.

"Just hanging," She shrugged, "I wasn't intending for you to allow me to remain here. I figured you'd throw me off after a few seconds…not that I want you to," She hastened to add, "But when you didn't, I decided I'd just chill."

Emmet considered this, "You weigh nothing…If it weren't for your running mouth, I probably wouldn't even know you were there."

"I guess that's a compliment."

"Don't all women want to be skinny?"

"No," Kyleigh laughed, "Some people like and want curves. Junk in the trunk and all that."

"I could see the appeal of junk in the trunk," Emmet smirked.

"I'm sure you could," Kyleigh rolled her eyes, "You're a guy after all."

"I guess that's a compliment," He parroted.

"Eh," Kyleigh teased, "Depends on the situation."

"So what situation would you want a guy to be around?"

"Well, if there's a spider on the wall that needs to be killed, I'd like to have a guy around. Actually, if there's any bug on the wall, I'd want a guy around."

"You have super vampire strength. You just took out grizzly bears and shit, but you're afraid of bugs? I don't get you."

"Bugs freak me out! They have too many legs and eyes and the walk funny," Kyleigh broke off and shuddered.

"Okay, okay," Emmet rolled his eyes at her girlish behavior, "What are other good guy situations?"

"When you need a cuddle partner, when you need a pair of strong arms to hold you…though in our case, all of us have strong arms so I suppose it wouldn't make a difference, when there's a thunder storm."

"Why do I feel like these are specifically directed towards Jasper and his special abilities to make you less of a spaz?" Emmet interrupted.

"Because he's my current boyfriend, perhaps?"

"And only boyfriend," He added.

"Yes, that too. Whatever would my mother say?"

Emmet snorted, "One can only imagine."

Kyleigh smiled, for once enjoying thinking about her mother, but only because she'd love to see her face if she "came back from the dead" to show off her vampire boyfriend.

Emmet continued walking, not paying any attention to where they were.

"Okay, seriously Emmet, where the hell are we?" Kyleigh asked finally, "Like, seriously?"

"Like seriously or just seriously?" He asked, stalling for time.

"Both," She replied flatly, "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"Of course I do," Emmet lied, subtly glancing around.

Kyleigh groaned, "You idiot, I told you we were lost like an hour ago!"

"Stop being so dramatic, we aren't lost. We're just a little turned around." He stopped and looked in each direction.

"You should turn around and head back to where we were originally," Kyleigh suggested.

"How will we know where we were?"

"Eventually we might pick up on a scent of some sort," Kyleigh shrugged, not knowing if this was true or not.

"You're just making things up," Emmet accused, turning around and heading in the opposite direction.

"Am not," She insisted, now sounding like Emmet had an hour previously.

"I guess we have nothing to lose," He said dejectedly.

"Exactly," Kyleigh agreed, settling herself comfortably on his back and resting her head on his shoulder.

_Oh no…_

"Good morning, Mrs. Harrison," Carlisle greeted kindly. He'd been allowed to come back to see his regular patients.

"Dr. Cullen," She said stiffly, staring at him suspiciously.

"How are you feeling today?" He sat on the edge of her bed, ignoring her as she scooted away from him.

"Fine," She replied shortly.

"Fine," He repeated blankly, "If you're fine then why are you in the hospital?"

"Fred insisted on it," Mrs. Harrison kept her posture stiff.

"Ah," Carlisle glossed over this, "And why would he do that?"

"He's just being paranoid," She snapped, "Look, Doctor, I'm not sure I'm comfortable here given the current…circumstances," She eyed him.

"Circumstances?" He furrowed his brow.

"The newspaper article," She prompted, "The lawsuit, all of that."

"Oh, yes," Carlisle nodded, "Yes, I understand…but you do realize, Mrs. Harrison, that it was just an article and that doesn't mean it's true?"

"You're in court for a reason," She insisted, now glaring indignantly at him, "And I'm not comfortable having you as my doctor. With all due respect, I'd like to switch physicians."

"Alright," Carlisle said wearily, standing up, "I'll go talk to the administration and see what I can do."

"Thank you," She replied primly.

He looked at her like he was going to say something else then shook his head and left the room. When he reached the office, the receptionist didn't even ask what he was there for, just handed him another transfer file to fill out. Unfortunately, this had almost become routine for Carlisle, though the article had only been out for a few hours. Word travelled fast in Oregon. Court was reconvening the next day for Judge McCartney's decision and Carlisle was praying that the charges would be dropped so things could go back to normal.

_Hold back…_

"What happened to them?" Rosalie asked for the ten thousandth time, looking out the window.

"I don't know, Rosalie," Jasper said mechanically, also looking out the window.

"I wish Alice was here," Rosalie grumbled, hating to admit it, "She could watch for their future."

Alice, Bella, and Nessie (and Jacob, of course) had gone out to pick flowers that afternoon.

"Maybe they'll see them in their travels," Edward suggested.

"Oh great," Rosalie muttered, "Now I'm even more worried."

Jasper sent some calm towards her, barely paying attention to her grumbling. This wasn't the first time Kyleigh and Emmet had disappeared for a few hours. They were excellent hunting partners, but they didn't think much when they were together. They usually ended up getting lost or stuck somewhere. And they always came back blaming the other for whatever shenanigans they'd gotten into.

"I hate Montana," Rosalie threw herself down next to her brother and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Why?" Jasper asked, sensing the answer.

"There's no freaking cell reception," She growled.

"I wonder if that's another reason as to why Kyleigh dislikes pine trees," Edward mused.

"What?" Rosalie snapped, turning her beautiful head towards him.

"I wonder if that's another reason as to why Kyleigh dislikes pine trees," Edward repeated, "Or has she not told you about that?"

Rosalie looked at Jasper, clearly confused. He shrugged, "It's true. She doesn't like pine trees, bugs, elevators, you," he inclined his head towards Edward, "And the word 'lilac.' Amongst other things."

"What's wrong with lilacs?" Rosalie tilted her head.

"Nothing," Jasper shrugged, "It's just the word she doesn't like apparently."

"Oh," Rosalie considered this, "And it doesn't bother you that she dislikes you?" She asked Edward.

Edward laughed, "Nope. I find it amusing. She likes me, she just doesn't want to admit it to anyone."

"Or she just doesn't like you," Jasper said wryly.

"True," Edward conceded easily.

"Guys!" Rosalie interrupted, "This doesn't change the issue at hand."

"What's the issue at hand?" Edward asked slowly.

Rosalie stared at him incredulously, "Emmet and Kyleigh are missing!" She shouted.

"We are?" Kyleigh raised her eyebrows as they entered the room, "Good to know."

Rosalie leapt to her feet, "Where the hell have you been?" She demanded, "We have been so worried!"

"Jeez Rose, relax," Emmet laughed, reaching out and smoothing her hair.

"Relax? Relax?" She took a deep breath then stopped, "Kyleigh, what on earth are you doing up there?"

Kyleigh giggled then jumped lithely off of Emmet's back, "Hitching a ride," She shrugged, dancing over into Jasper's waiting arms, "He's got nice, broad shoulders. Perfect for sitting on."

Rosalie shook her head and laughed then squealed when Emmet pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

"So," Kyleigh said, looking up into Jasper's eyes, "What's new?"

Jasper stared down at her, trying to smile, but not quite achieving his goal, "Ky," he began, "I have to talk to you about something. Come with me," He took her tiny hand and led her outside to the creek they'd discovered together a few weeks beforehand.

Kyleigh was watching him warily, "What's up?"

"Sit down," He nodded towards 'their' rock.

Kyleigh remained standing as did he, "You're freaking me out, Jasper, what is it?"

Jasper looked away then picked up a pebble, fiddling with it as he slowly explained his conversation with Esme this morning, deciding not to downplay too much.

When he was finished, Kyleigh began laughing, clutching at her side as her laughing grew hysterical.

"Kyleigh?" For once, Jasper looked alarmed, reaching out with his hands like he had back when they'd first met and cupping them over her shoulders.

Her breath was coming in short gasps, "Is that all?" She forced out, still giggling.

Now Jasper just looked surprised, "What else could there have been?"

"I thought," She shook her head, trying to get a grip on herself, "I thought that," She broke into another peel of giggles.

Jasper waited, patient as always, until she had mostly stopped laughing, "You thought that…?"

Kyleigh bit her lip and looked away, "Never mind, it was stupid."

"Kyleigh," Jasper said warningly, lightly turning her so she was completely facing him, "What is it?"

"I just thought…I thought, when you wanted to be alone to talk to me, that…" She trailed off, brushing her hair out of her eyes, "I thought that you were going to break up with me or something," She mumbled.

"Oh," Jasper furrowed his brow, "Why would I ever do that?"

"I don't know!" Kyleigh threw up her hands in exasperation, "Just the ominous way you asked to talk to me alone, it made me think that maybe you were tired of me."

"Tired of you?" Jasper repeated, looking baffled, "Ky, I'm not tired of you and I'm not breaking up with you. I love you."

Kyleigh looked up at him sharply, "You do," It wasn't a question.

"Yes," He replied simply, cupping her face in his hands, "I thought we'd already covered this."

"Oh," Kyleigh looked a little thrown off.

"So, you think you're about to have your heart broken and instead you get a heart handed to you…figuratively speaking," Jasper added, remembering that he was a vampire (he had a hard time remembering he was the living dead when he was with Kyleigh), "How does that feel?"

"It feels…wow," Kyleigh laughed, squealing when Jasper pulled her against him.

"I'm so happy that you aren't breakable anymore," He teased in her ear, squeezing her.

"Me too or I would be in a million Kyleigh pieces by now," Kyleigh giggled, squeezing him back.

"I'm also glad there isn't any blood in you."

"You did pretty well, all things considered," Kyleigh pointed out, playing with his blonde hair.

"Took a lot of concentration," Jasper admitted, "And that night…when you made me kiss you,"

"Wait a second, I didn't make you do anything!" Kyleigh pulled back slightly to glare at him.

"You pulled the 'I'm dying and it's my last wish' card!" He laughed at the cross expression on her face.

"It wasn't a card, it was my life!" She pouted.

"Regardless, you guilted me into it."

Kyleigh was going to argue then shrugged, "It was worth it."

"Kyleigh, I nearly killed you," Jasper cried.

"Eh," She laughed, "Minor detail. The point is, I'm here with you now, bloodless and strong."

"And beautiful and amazing," He murmured, kissing her.

Kyleigh couldn't smile because of his lips; this happened to her often.

Eventually, Jasper lowered her gently to the ground (it was a long way, given the foot height difference), "We should get back to the others. I'm sure Rosalie has explained to Emmet now."

"So…who knows?" Kyleigh asked, tripping lightly over a rock as they walked back to the house.

Jasper kept a firm hand on her arm, "You, me, Rosalie, Edward and Emmet."

"So, the others don't know?"

"We thought it would be best to tell you first," Jasper explained, a little worried that she was going to freak out soon.

"That was thoughtful," Kyleigh considered this, "I think I'm getting very, very good at handling my emotions," She determined.

"You are, I can tell," Jasper tried not to laugh.

"Because I really, _really_ want to flip out right now, but I'm resisting," She continued, accidentally crashing into him, "Sorry."

"Ky, you were supposed to become graceful when you changed," Jasper said, as he had informed her over and over since her transformation.

"I know, I know," She waved him off, "Old habits die hard."

"So you made a habit of slamming into people?" Jasper teased.

She stuck her tongue out at him, "Very funny, wise ass. I'm just saying, my gracefulness doesn't come with an on switch. It's a gradual process."

"Right," Jasper pretended like he believed her. He grabbed the door and held it open for her then walked into the dim room. Rosalie and Emmet were sitting on the couch together, Emmet holding her hand. Edward was talking quickly and quietly to Alice and Bella, who seemed to have returned while Kyleigh and Jasper were out. Nessie and Jacob were nowhere to be seen. Kyleigh could feel the resentment pouring off of Alice and once Edward was done filling her in, words couldn't describe the look in Alice's eye when she turned to Kyleigh. Kyleigh sighed and leaned back against Jasper as a support system, already used to being hated by part of the family.

**I started to write the next chapter in my head during class today, but I'm way behind on homework so I'll be writing whenever I can. I think the end might be near and that depresses me a lot. I know how I'm starting off this next chapter, it's just a matter of finding the time to write it. I'm currently on a study break. So, please guys, send in more reviews, please, please? Thank you!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Thank you for my reviews! Woo, one week of college down and I'm mostly unscathed. Anyway, I own nothing, but Kyleigh.**

"Jasper," Kyleigh murmured against his neck.

"Yes?" He asked, lightly stroking her auburn hair.

"Vampires don't sleep, right?"

"Right," He confirmed.

"So why am I so sleepy?" She yawned.

He furrowed his brow, "That is a good question. Have you gotten tired before?"

She shrugged, "Sometimes. I just figured that vampires occasionally got tired."

"Uh, yeah, sometimes," He lied, already planning his phone conversation with Carlisle.

"Are you lying to me?" She asked sleepily.

"Maybe," He hedged, "I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing, though."

She nodded, her eyes drifting shut, "So I'm not going to die," She whispered.

Jasper snorted, "Vampires don't die, sweetheart."

She smiled as she drifted into a state of half-sleep.

Jasper continued to run his hands over her hair, racking his brain for any instance where a vampire had fallen asleep. Nessie was the only creature he'd known to do so, but she was half-human. Jasper decided not to worry about it and just call Carlisle when she was busy later in the day…or night…whichever one, Jasper wasn't sure. The shades were drawn in the room they were in.

He drifted into one of his infamous trances, not even paying attention to the movie they'd been watching (_Runaway Bride_, another infamous Garry Marshall film). He wasn't sure how long they'd remained like that, her dozing, he thinking, but eventually Rosalie came in and sat down across from them, neatly folding her legs under her. Years of existence had them sitting in a mutual silence, knowing that when she was ready, she would speak.

"What will happen after?" She asked quietly.

"I'm not sure," Jasper admitted, "I'm leaving it up to Ky."

Rosalie nodded, "It'll be weird to be apart from her."

"Well…you could come with us if you wanted," He suggested.

She shook her beautiful head, "No, you guys deserve your own honeymoon."

"Rosalie, we aren't-"

"I know, I know, I meant you deserve time together, alone." She interrupted impatiently.

"Ah," He nodded, "I have no idea where to go."

"At some point, she'll have to have a bit of human interaction," She pointed out.

"She's not ready," Jasper shook his head, "No way."

"We won't know that until she tries. It's been a few months."

"I know," He sighed, "I'm worried about her," Jasper knew he could trust Rosalie with this information.

"Why?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Look at her," He looked down at her sleeping form.

"She's asleep," Rosalie realized, "But…"

"That's my point. She's weaker than I thought."

"In her defense, she's dealing with a lot more than most newborns."

"Still, even when things get bad, most don't sleep."

"Jasper, she was dying when Carlisle changed her."

"So was Edward," He muttered.

"That's different. He wasn't sick as long as Kyleigh was," Rosalie watched her favorite sister as she lightly snuggled against Jasper, "Don't worry about it."

"This is one of those moments when I wish someone else could do emotional control for me," Jasper pushed some strands of hair out of Kyleigh's face then looked up and saw Rosalie grinning at him, "Oh, what?"

"You're just so…enamored by her, it's refreshing. You and Alice weren't exactly forthcoming with your love," She said delicately.

"Not everyone is into public love, Rosalie," Jasper replied wearily.

"I know that," She pushed this aside, "But it's nice to see you happy."

"I'm glad that you enjoy my newfound happiness, Rose. It's good of you to say that."

She beamed at him, "See, I'm making you feel better."

"Yes, you are," He conceded.

"Ha! I can control emotion too!"

He snorted, "It's not quite that simple, but thank you for your efforts."

"If it's still bothering you later, talk to Carlisle." She said after a few moments.

"I will, though I feel badly bothering him what with all that's going on."

"Please," She rolled her eyes, "Carlisle would do anything for any of us, he won't mind."

"Fair point," He pulled Kyleigh closer to him, smiling when she murmured his name in her sleep.

"Besides, the judge should be making his decision today. Then it will all be over," Rosalie sounded more confident than she felt.

"Right," Jasper confirmed, doing the same as Rosalie had and pretending, "It'll all be over soon."

"You should take her somewhere nice," Rosalie mused, "She didn't get to do much travelling…I wonder if she's ever gone bowling…"

"So you're definition of 'somewhere nice' is a bowling alley?" He smirked.

She glared at him, "No, that was just me pondering aloud. I don't think she had much fun…we could take her bowling."

"I feel like she'd cause a lot of damage," Images of her throwing the ball too hard and destroying the lane flittered through his mind.

"Oh fine," Rosalie grumbled, "We can at least teach her how to play baseball."

"Because playing baseball worked out so well last time," He laughed.

"Okay, you know what?" She snapped, "No humans will be there, it'll just be a family affair like it was supposed to be."

Jasper resisted the urge to laugh at her and merely nodded in what he hoped appeared to be agreement, "Anything else?"

"Um," She absently ran her fingers through her blonde locks, "Give me time. We should just have her make a bucket list. You have eternity to get through it."

"I'll suggest that when she wakes up…if she wakes up," He murmured.

"Stop being melodramatic," Rosalie snapped her fingers at him, "She'll wake up when she wants to. God, relax. I know you love her and all, but it is possible to love too much."

It was Jasper's turn to glare at her, "I'm perfectly entitled to worry about her because vampires aren't supposed to sleep!"

"I know they aren't!" Rosalie hissed, "Just relax!"

"Are you guys fighting?" A musical voice came from behind them. Both turned and saw Nessie standing in the doorway.

"No sweetie," Rosalie replied quickly, "Come sit with me."

Nessie danced over and sat next to her aunt, "It sounded like an argument."

"It wasn't, kiddo," Jasper assured her, "We were having a discussion."

"Oh," Nessie considered this, "Is Kyleigh sleeping?"

"She's resting," Rosalie put an arm around her niece, "It's alright."

"Okay," Nessie shrugged, playing with the cushion next to her.

"What are the others up to?" Rosalie asked conversationally.

"Mom and Alice are having a…discussion about Carlisle and Dad and Emmet disappeared."

"I wonder where they got off to," Jasper murmured.

"Where's Jacob?" Rosalie resisted the urge to wrinkle her nose.

"He went for a run, but Mom wouldn't let me go with him," Nessie sulked.

"It's all for the best, I don't think it's safe for you to run with him when he's a wolf."

"I do it all the time!" Nessie pouted, "You sound like my Mom."

"Sorry, sweetheart," Rosalie changed the subject, "Maybe later we can go out and do something together until he gets back."

Nessie brightened considerably, "Like, all of us?"

"Maybe," Rosalie doubted that would happen, "We'll see what everyone's up to when we figure out our plan. What would you like to do?"

As Nessie began rattling off things they could do, Jasper zoned out, watching his beautiful girlfriend dream.

_Ooh…_

"Touched for the very first time…" Esme sang softly, wringing her hands.

Carlisle turned slightly to raise his eyebrows at his wife, "Really? Madonna?"

"Hush, it's stuck in my head!" She hissed, going back to humming it.

Carlisle smiled and faced forward again. Next to him, Maxwell was fidgeting nervously with his briefcase. They'd been sitting in court for 25 minutes, waiting for McCartney to come in with his verdict. Across the room, Harold was staring resolutely ahead. Helen hadn't been allowed back into court, though Carlisle was sure she was waiting just outside the building, prepared to pounce. Just to mess with him a little, Carlisle leaned over to Maxwell and murmured, "It was a pleasure working with you, Maxwell, I really hope, for your sake, that this ends ell."

He could practically hear Maxwell gulp as he choked out a strangled reply.

The chamber door flew open and McCartney entered, his black robes billowing behind him. They all waited until he had taken his seat, adjusted his glasses, cleared his throat, shuffled his papers, cleared his throat again, readjusted his position in his chair, cleared his throat again then looked up at them. Esme mused to herself that she would almost miss that little routine of his.

"Would the defendant rise?" Judge McCartney rasped.

Carlisle stood up then nudged Maxwell, who stood up with him. Inwardly, Carlisle rolled his eyes about the fact that he had to play lawyer to his own lawyer.

"After carefully reviewing this case and considering all of the arguments, I and the state of Oregon, declare Carlisle Cullen…"

_Oh no…_

"Kyleigh?" Came Rosalie's voice.

Kyleigh blinked blearily then sat up, "Yeah?" She mumbled.

"Here," Rosalie handed Kyleigh the phone.

"Did I fall asleep?" She asked, reaching out and fumbling the phone out of Rosalie's hands.

"Yes," Rosalie pushed this aside, "We can talk about that later, someone wants to talk to you," Her blonde sister crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently.

Kyleigh warily lifted the phone to her ear, "Hello?" She paused, hearing Carlisle's voice, "What happened…He did?...then what happened?...So…?" Kyleigh paused again as Carlisle spoke, "So…you're saying…oh my God," Kyleigh breathed, looking up wildly at Rosalie, "Are you sure?" Rosalie could hear Carlisle laughing at Kyleigh from where she was standing. "Okay, that was a stupid question…Oh my God," Kyleigh squealed, stumbling to her feet, "Oh my God." Carlisle continued to talk to her then finally hung up. Kyleigh turned to Rosalie then screamed, "HE GOT OFF!" And threw her arms around her.

Rosalie screamed as well and the two began dancing around together, laughing and shrieking.

Emmet burst into the room, looking around wildly and brandishing a cleaver.

Kyleigh and Rosalie stared at him then collapsed into laughter again.

"What's going on?" Emmet demanded, looking for an intruder.

"Why," Rosalie paused to catch her breath, "Why do you have a cleaver?"

"…I thought you were being attacked."

Kyleigh snorted, "You doubted our ability to fend for ourselves?"

Emmet shrugged this off, "Whatever. What the hell were you screaming for?"

Rosalie and Kyleigh glanced at each other then she turned to Emmet, "Carlisle called."

"Oh," Emmet braced himself, "And?"

"He got off!" Rosalie screamed, jumping into her husband's arms. Emmet gave a whoop of laughter and spun her around.

Kyleigh glanced gleefully, "Where the hell is my boyfriend?" She demanded.

"Right here, darling," A voice dripped from behind her.

Kyleigh shrieked and leapt around, slamming into Jasper's hard body. She could hear his laughter rumbling in his chest as she squeezed her arms around him, "DID YOU HEAR?" She shouted.

"HEAR WHAT?" He yelled back, humoring her.

"CARLISLE'S CHARGES WERE DROPPED!" Kyleigh shrieked.

Jasper grinned and picked her up, "Told you it'd be fine," He murmured to her, "Didn't I?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Kyleigh said impatiently, "That's not the point. HE GOT OFF!" She crowed.

"So I take it he got off?" Edward asked from the doorway, eyeing her amusedly.

"YES!"

Edward smiled and came in, "All that worrying for nothing," He teased.

Rosalie stepped between them before Kyleigh could get mad at Edward, "We need to celebrate. Where are Alice and Bella?"

"Probably on their way back," Edward replied, "I'm sure Alice saw the verdict already."

"True story," Alice said from behind him, grinning.

Bella and Nessie stepped around her and went to Edward's side. He put his arms around his girls and squeezed their shoulders.

"Did Carlisle say anything else?" Alice prodded, turning to Kyleigh.

Kyleigh hid her surprise at Alice's direct address, "Not really. Just that he got off and that everything is okay back in Oregon."

They considered this.

"So…when can we go home?" Emmet asked, holding Rosalie's hand.

"I have no idea," Kyleigh admitted, "Call him back and ask."

"You call him back!"

"Why should I call him? You're the one who wants to know!"

"Yeah, but you're the reason we're here," Emmet determined that now that everything was over, he had every right to make fun of her about it.

"Yeah, well-"

"Hi Carlisle," Jasper said conversationally, interrupting their stupid argument, "Emmet wants to know when we can come home…I know, Kyleigh told him that if he wanted to know, he should ask, but it's Emmet, doing that would've made sense…" He smirked when Emmet glared at him, "Alright…so are we staggering again?...I think that'd be best. It might look suspicious if we all pile back into the house at once…alright…sure, I'll tell them…see you soon." He hung up.

"Way to take control of the situation, babe," Kyleigh smiled at him. He surreptitiously winked at her.

Alice ignored this, "So, what's the plan?"

"Same as how we arrived," Jasper replied, "Two cars in shifts."

Rosalie nodded, "Now?"

"Whenever," Jasper shrugged, "It depends on how badly you want to leave."

Edward looked over at Kyleigh then threw his head back and laughed, "I heard that."

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD YOU MISCREANT!" Kyleigh shouted, "God, can we leave now?" She begged Jasper, "If we don't leave soon, I swear to God, I will kill him."

Edward was shaking with silent laughter. Even Alice and Bella were smiling at this outburst.

Jasper sent calm at her, "Relax, darling, relax," He massaged her shoulders, "We'll leave soon, I promise. We just need to pack," Before he could finish the sentence, Kyleigh and Rosalie were already off, packing up their belongings along with their significant others'.

"It's gonna be a fight over who leaves first, I can tell," Emmet sat down on the couch and propped his arms behind his head.

"It'd only be logical for Kyleigh and Jasper to leave first," Alice reasoned, "They had to wait last time."

Jasper nodded in agreement, realizing that Alice wanted them to leave just as desperately as Kyleigh wanted to get out of there.

"Done," Kyleigh and Rosalie said in unison as they skidded back into the room.

"Are you that miserable here?" Edward pretended to look hurt.

"Of course not," Kyleigh said quickly, "We just don't want to impose anymore."

"Mhm," Edward smiled knowingly.

"Alright, I'll go get the cars," Jasper left the room, grabbing some suitcases. Emmet got up after a moment and followed suit.

Rosalie, Bella, Nessie and Alice went to finish getting everything ready for departure.

"It's not that I was miserable, you know," Kyleigh said to Edward, breaking the silence they'd been existing in since everyone had left.

"I know," Edward ensured her, lightly tapping his temple, "But you weren't exactly happy here, either."

Kyleigh was going to lie then sighed and shook her head, "I think it had more to do with the circumstances than with the company."

"Maybe," Edward inclined his head, "Someday, you'll come back and we'll see if that's true."

Kyleigh shook her head, "No way, you're coming to us. I can't stand these stupid pine trees."

"There are pine trees in Oregon, Kyleigh," Edward laughed.

"I know…but I have issues with these pine trees…they remind me too much of my parents now."

"That's because you used to stare at them when you were brooding about your parents, so really it's your own fault."

Kyleigh glared at her obnoxious brother.

"Hey, don't hate me for speaking the truth," Edward chuckled, holding up his hands in surrender.

Kyleigh was about to retort when someone crashed into her and squeezed her tightly. The auburn haired girl laughed, hugging Nessie back, "I'm gonna miss you, kiddo."

Nessie showed Kyleigh in her mind that she would miss her too. Then she showed Kyleigh a vision of Kyleigh and Jasper waltzing; and finally she showed Kyleigh another reflection of herself.

Now Kyleigh's eyes had lost all the red; they were still black, but occasionally, they'd develop a little strip of gold in them. Kyleigh had filled out more, no longer as scrawny and weak as she had been. Most of all, she was happy and it showed in her face, everything was as it should be. Kyleigh grinned when Nessie's vision showed Kyleigh, beautiful and strong, dancing with Jasper again.

She lightly kissed Nessie's forehead then released the girl, already dreaming about being back with Esme and Carlisle and eventually leaving again to be with Jasper, alone and free.

**So I'll try to write the next chapter at some point, but I'm procrastinating doing homework right now as it is. I'm working on it in my head, don't worry. Please, please, please review. The transition to college is hard and I'd like some love, please? I'll update as soon as possible! **


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm so sorry about not updating! Things got super crazy, this is the first day off I've had since classes started. So, here's the latest chapter, I'll try to start the next one now and hopefully I'll update before the years over, haha. I own nothing, but Kyleigh.**

"You've been quiet," Jasper observed over the light purr of the Veyron.

"Hm?" Kyleigh raised her head to look at him, "Yeah," She pulled her knees to her chest, "Just thinking."

"About?" He prodded.

"Sleeping," Kyleigh looked at him, "Vampires don't sleep."

"Not usually," Jasper shrugged, "But then again, you're no ordinary vampire."

Kyleigh smiled distractedly, "Well, I know I'm not, but don't you think it's a little disconcerting that I just kind of fell asleep earlier."

"Sweetheart," Jasper began, already working his magic on her, "You've had a tough time. I think you're body just needed a rest."

"But-"

"But if it's still bothering you, go on inside and ask Carlisle."

"Go inside…wait," Kyleigh looked around and realized they were in the garage, "What the hell? When did we get back?"

"Just now," He smirked, "Damn, you were really out of it," He got out of the car, opening her door for her in a flash then unloading the suitcases from the back.

Kyleigh took off like a rocket into the house, not even waiting to help Jasper carry anything; he was a big boy, he could handle it. She skidded into the room then launched herself into Esme's waiting arms, not even hearing Esme's greeting.

"Ky, she's not going anywhere, you don't have to hang onto her for eternity," Jasper laughed from behind her. Kyleigh reluctantly released her mother then quickly squeezed her again before stepping back.

"It's so good to see you," Esme cupped Kyleigh's cheek in her hand gently then stepped around her to give her son a hug as well.

Kyleigh gazed around at the living room that was so familiar to her though she hadn't lived their long then she saw Carlisle. All of the emotion that had simmered inside of her throughout the ordeal came to the surface as Kyleigh and Carlisle rapidly crossed the room to meet in the middle. They didn't embrace at first. Carlisle merely cradled her face in his hands until she took another step and pressed her forehead against his chest. The moment was so tender, Esme and Jasper turned away and conversed quietly then Esme went to call Rosalie and Emmet back in Montana.

"I'm so sorry," Kyleigh whispered so only Carlisle could hear.

Carlisle didn't have to say anything; he understood that she needed to say this in order for her to be able to move on. He kissed the crown of her head then released her and smiled, "I'm happy you're home. At least for the time being."

"What do you mean?" Kyleigh asked, but he just laughed and went to greet Jasper.

Esme came back into the room, "Let's get you unpacked," She smoothly took Kyleigh's hand and they took her suitcase to her room, "I'm sure you're more than thrilled to be back."

"You have no idea," Kyleigh said reverently, "Not that I don't appreciate Edward's hospitality."

Esme chose not to comment on Kyleigh leaving Bella out of the statement, "I think he enjoyed your company," She smiled knowingly.

"I'm sure he did," Kyleigh muttered, still not quite over her annoyance with her new brother; she definitely wouldn't be missing his 'talent' anytime soon.

"Now we just have to wait for Emmet and Rosalie," Esme looked around at Kyleigh's room, "It's so nice to have you guys back here. The house is just so…empty without you all."

"Understandable, I mean this place is freaking huge."

"I didn't quite mean in that way, but I suppose you're right," Esme laughed.

"Kyleigh never quite sees the world the way others do," Jasper informed Esme, coming into the room, "Are you hungry?"

Kyleigh considered this, "Not really, but then again, it's been awhile since I've gotten to hunt here. Do you want to come, Esme?" Kyleigh wasn't so willing to leave behind her mother yet.

"No, sweetheart, I'll wait for the others. Go out and enjoy yourself," She urged, lightly pushing Kyleigh over to Jasper who scooped her up into his arms then flew down the stairs, Kyleigh laughing the entire way.

_Yeah, it's coming back…_

"Red one."

"Green one."

"Black one."

"Black one."

"Silver one."

"Black one."

"Red one."

"Black one."

"Wait a second," Rosalie said, "How do you win this game?"

"Uh…" Emmet shrugged, "I don't know. Does there have to be a winner?"

"Yes," She replied, "Cause otherwise this is the stupidest thing we've ever done."

"I thought the stupidest thing we've ever done was when we decided to go sledding and basically killed an entire forest."

Rosalie considered this, "That was different. That was a group effort."

"Who's idea was that anyway?"

"…yours," Rosalie snorted, turning into the Cullen's driveway.

"Oh yeah," Emmet grinned, "It was fun, admit it."

"Because recreational de-forestization is always a good time," Rosalie kissed his cheek after parking the car.

"Hell yeah it is," He got out and stretched, "That was like a record, babe."

She winked, "I like fast cars."

"Then why didn't you argue more for the Veyron?" He pouted, helping her carry bags into the house.

"I don't need the world's fastest car to drive fast," She scoffed then grinned when she saw Esme. The two women embraced fiercely, talking over one another. Emmet set the bags down then waited until Esme detached herself and went to give him a hug.

"I've missed you both so," Esme sighed happily, pulling away from Emmet then taking both their hands and leading them into the living room.

"We've missed you," Rosalie assured her, sitting next to her mother happily, "It's nice to be home."

"It's nice to have you home," Carlisle said, trotting into the room and laughing when Rosalie threw herself into his arms.

"Kyleigh and Jasper should be back soon, they went hunting," Esme smiled at her family.

"We're right here," Jasper drawled, shaking the rain out of his hair.

Kyleigh stumbled out of her shoes then ran to Rosalie and hugged her.

"Ew, Kyleigh, you're wet," She laughed, hugging her just the same.

"You'll get over it," Kyleigh let go and cordially shook Emmet's hand.

Carlisle raised his eyebrows, "Do you two not hug?"

"Jasper won't let us," Emmet released Kyleigh's hand.

"He won't?" Esme asked, looking to her blonde son.

"I don't want him to shatter her," He said in his quiet way, smiling slightly, "I finally found a girlfriend, I don't want her to be pulverized."

Esme and Carlisle laughed at this, "I can see your point," She nodded, "We don't want her pulverized either."

"I don't want me pulverized either. I'm glad we all agree." Kyleigh slid her hand into Jasper's who squeezed it lightly.

"So, now that we're all in agreement and back home, what do you guys want to do?" Esme asked, looking at all of them.

Emmet and Rosalie glanced at each other, "Baseball," They said in unison.

_And I say ooh…_

"This could end disastrously," Jasper murmured to Esme, watching Kyleigh pick up a bat.

"Nonsense," She swatted at him, "She'll do fine."

"Like this, right?" Kyleigh called to Jasper, demonstrating a swing.

"You got it," He gave her a thumbs up.

She grinned then turned back towards Rosalie, who was pitching. After she'd thrown the ball, Kyleigh hit it so hard that the bat snapped in two. The Cullens urged her to run anyway and Kyleigh successfully slid into home before Emmet could return with the ball.

"I thought she was gonna suck!" Emmet complained, tossing the ball to Rosalie.

Kyleigh leapt to her feet and sang a little mocking song at him, going and sitting with Esme.

"Let's have her pitch," Emmet suggested irritably.

"No way," Jasper shook his head, "Not a good idea."

"What's not a good idea?" Kyleigh asked.

"You pitching," Emmet and Jasper said in unison.

"Oh…why is that a bad idea?" She raised her eyebrows at them.

"I dunno," Emmet shrugged, "Ask him."

"I just feel like trusting you to throw an object at someone else may not be the best plan," Jasper explained.

"Oh," She said again, "I have horrible aim, if that helps."

"That helps!" Emmet said vehemently, wanting to win the game.

Jasper shot him a look, "Maybe next time, I think you need some training first."

"Okay," She shrugged, "I'd rather swing a bat."

Emmet sighed in frustration, "You kill all the fun," He complained to Jasper.

Jasper flashed him a grin, "It's my job, man."

Kyleigh went on to score two more homeruns, causing her team to win the game. She couldn't help, but gloat to Emmet as they made their way back to the Cullen household.

"Kyleigh," Esme scolded lightly, "It's not nice to gloat."

She pouted, "But he'd be doing it if he'd won, which he didn't," She said gleefully.

"Just watch, Montgomery, I will so get back at you."

"Isn't Kyleigh a Cullen now?" Rosalie raised her eyebrows, cutting off Kyleigh before she could continue the argument.

"Yes, she is," Carlisle confirmed, ruffling Kyleigh's hair, "Whether she wants to be or not."

"Oh I want to be. Who knew that a bunch of blood sucking vampires would make a better family than my own human family?" She mused.

The Cullens cracked up, "Glad you feel that way, dear," Esme smiled.

Kyleigh jumped onto Jasper's back lightly.

"Excuse you, what makes you think I want to carry your weight?" He asked, turning his head back.

"What weight?" Rosalie called to them.

"Yeah, Jasper, what are you trying to say?" Kyleigh said "angrily."

"Well…you've been eating a lot of fattening grizzlies lately…" He ducked his head away from her swatting hand, "I'm kidding, Ky, other than you're hitting me, I hardly feel you."

She grinned, "I thought so," Then settled happily against his shoulders, watching the sun disappear behind the trees as she moved with her family, finally a unit again.

**So, I apologize again, but I'm writing for the newspaper now and I have a writing internship so I'm writing ALL the time, just not for this story =0( I lucked out and didn't have my afternoon class today. I'll get started on the next chapter. I'm foreseeing maybe 2 more chapters, because I think this tale has been told, though I will definitely miss Kyleigh. Anyway, please, please review! **


	19. Chapter 19

**So, I know I haven't updated in forever, and I'm sorry , but I've seriously been writing nonstop between writing at least 4 articles a week for the newspaper then writing for classes, it's crazy. Therefore, I'm going to make this the epilogue, which I am extremely upset about, but I don't know if I'll have time again until maybe Christmas to write again. Who knows, maybe I'll write a sequel or at least another Jackson story. So, I present to you the epilogue:**

There wasn't much that made Kyleigh Montgomery-Cullen nervous (actually, that's not true, lots of things made her nervous, but that's beside the point), however eyeing the dress Rosalie was holding in front of her definitely gave her butterflies.

"What's wrong?" Rosalie demanded, turned the dress around so she could look at it then facing it back out to Kyleigh, "It's perfect!"

"I know it is, Rose, I love it," Kyleigh hastened to assure her sister, "It's just…"

"Oh God," Rosalie looked horrified, "You're not backing out on me, are you?"

Kyleigh imagined she looked equally as horrified as she half-shouted, "No!"

"Then what the hell is the problem?" Rosalie asked exasperatedly.

"It's just so…white," Kyleigh mumbled, looking at the dress again.

Rosalie fought the urge to roll her eyes, "Of course it's white, it's a white wedding!"

"I know that, but…what if I, like, stain it or something."

"Oh for goodness sake," Rosalie actually rolled her eyes, "Is that what you're worried about?"

"Well that and the whole walking down the aisle without injuring myself or someone else," Kyleigh tentatively reached over and brushed her fingers against the lace of the gown.

"Oh please," Rosalie shrugged this off, "Carlisle will be there to make sure that doesn't happen. Now, sit," She commanded, pulling out her makeup kit.

Kyleigh glared at her then threw herself down on the stool, thinking back a few months previously to when it all started.

_Jesus Christ, it's driving me mad…_

"This is stupid," Kyleigh complained irritably, "Wouldn't it have been smarter to have waited until the sunset then run up the hill?"

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Jasper teased, taking her hand and pulling her along with him as they walking slowly up the hill.

"We're just going so slow," she pouted.

"We have forever," he pointed out, "Just relax," He said, simultaneously sending calm towards her.

"Oh fine," She grumbled.

By the time they'd reached the top, the sun was just falling behind the trees, giving everything a pink and orange glow. Jasper spread out a blanket then pulled Kyleigh down so that they were both sitting, with her in his lap.

"Well, this is cozy," She commented, looking at the birds circling the mountain.

"And worth it," He smiled, leaning forward and brushing his lips against her neck. Kyleigh tilted her head to the side and shut her eyes peacefully, enjoying the feel of his mouth on her skin.

"Very," She murmured, turning her head to kiss him then giggled and pushed him back so that she had him pinned to the blanket.

"Oh, I see how it is," Jasper smirked, "You think you're in control."

"Tex, I know I am," She replied, running her fingers up his chest, fidgeting with the zipper on his sweater.

"I'll let you think that for a little while," He conceded, his hands already brushing the hair out of her face and pulling her mouth back onto his.

It took awhile before Jasper and Kyleigh noticed that the sun had gone to bed and now the stars were twinkling above them. Eventually, Jasper pulled Kyleigh's hands out from under his t-shirt and cradled them against his chest, a signal that that was as far as they were going tonight. Kyleigh didn't mind that they took things slow and instead rolled off of him then cuddled against his chest, staring at the sky.

"This makes me think of that scene in _The Lion King_ when Timon, Puumba and Simba talk about what the stars are made of," she mused quietly.

"Everything makes you think of that movie," He replied, smiling when she giggled from the sound vibrating through his chest.

"Not true, only specific things."

"Mhm, so on Halloween when Emmet modeled that hula skirt and you said-"

"Let's all dress in drag and do the hula!" She finished excitedly, "Come on, he was asking for it."

"Or at Emmet and Rosalie's fifteen thousandth wedding when you got everyone to sing Can You Fell the Love Tonight."

"Again, it was appropriate in the situation."

"Or when you smacked Carlisle over the head and did that squash banana thing that crazy monkey does,"

"First of all, the crazy monkey's name is Rafiki and secondly, I didn't mean to hit Carlisle, I thought he was-"

"Emmet, I know, it's alright, I'm just saying, you reference _Lion King_ often."

"Whatever," She said, having no other rebuttal, "It's a freaking great movie."

"Mhm," Jasper humored her.

"So," She propped her elbows up on his chest and stared at him.

"So?" He put his arms behind his head as a pillow.

"So, why are we up here?"

"To enjoy a beautiful night," Jasper responded.

"Yeah, but why the big ceremony with the blanket and the romantic stroll through the woods?"

"I just felt like doing something different," He shrugged.

"You are such a liar, you have to have a reason as to why we're doing this. You're making me miss _Criminal Minds!"_

Jasper rolled his eyes, "Maybe this is more important that looking at Shemar Moore's butt."

"Nothing," Kyleigh responded very seriously, "is more important than looking at Shemar Moore's butt."

"Well, in that case, never mind," Jasper enjoyed driving her crazy and he knew he was good at it.

"Never mind what?" Kyleigh asked, but he ignored her, "Jasper, what!" She poked his nose.

"You've put some other guys butt before me, therefore it doesn't matter anymore."

She pouted, "I'm sorry! I'll never put anyone's butt before you again! Forgive me," She batted her eyelashes.

Jasper looked at her puppy dog eyes for a minute then smiled, "Fine, you're forgiven, darling, relax."

"Do I get to know now?" She pleaded.

"Oh I suppose," Jasper sat up and pulled her with him, "but you have to do me a favor and not laugh."

"Um…okay?" Kyleigh furrowed her brow as Jasper reached into his pocket.

"So, this was in my family for a very long time, but I never knew what to do with it. My Mama told me that I'd know who to give it to when I found her so I'd saved it and I recently found it when I was looking for Nemo (Kyleigh's rabbit). At the time, I'd told my mom that I didn't understand what she meant by that, but the other day I figured it out. There's only one person I can see wearing this and that person is you," finally he pulled out the ring box. When he heard Kyleigh's quick intake of breath, he glanced at her, trying to read her expression. "The only problem is I didn't know how you'd react…plus, I didn't know how to ask you so this is me asking you very seriously to take this ring and be my wife. Or at least my fiancé."

Jasper finally opened the box and slid the ring over to her. With shaking hands, Kyleigh lifted the box and stared at the large oval diamond dominating the ring, "Oh my God, Jasper, it's huge!"

"That's all you have to say?" He asked, semi-exasperatedly.

"OH RIGHT!" Kyleigh shouted, "Yes, I'll take the ring and be your wife, or at least fiancé." She said shyly, smiling at him.

He grinned in relief, "Thank God."

"Did you think I'd say no?"

"I have no idea," He shrugged, "But there's always the nerves involved in this sort of thing. You know, you should probably try it on," He prodded gently.

"Oh yeah," Kyleigh said stupidly, as Jasper took the ring out of the box then slid it expertly onto her finger.

"Perfect fit," He grinned, "Good, I hate dealing with jewelers."

Kyleigh stared at her hand.

"Ky? Is everything okay?"

"Yes," She nodded, "It's perfect."

And under the stars on top of a mountain in Oregon, Kyleigh kissed Jasper and sealed their engagement.

_I said it's driving me mad_

"You are perfect," Rosalie declared happily, capping the mascara and stepping back to admire Kyleigh, "Yup, perfect."

"Are you saying I wasn't before?" Kyleigh teased, trying to see herself in the mirror.

"No and no, you can't see yourself yet."

"Rose, seriously? It's been hours!"

"You're not even in the damn dress yet!"

"Oh yeah…" Kyleigh looked down at her bunny slippers, yoga pants and mickey mouse t-shirt.

Rosalie rolled her eyes, "Come on, let's get you into that thing so we can get started."

Kyleigh allowed Rosalie to help her into her skin tight gown made almost entirely of lace, fingering the bodice as Rosalie expertly tied the back shut.

"I can't believe you aren't wearing shoes," Rosalie grumbled, giving the dress one last tug then stepping back.

Kyleigh stuck her tongue out at her then turned around, "Can I see myself now?"

"Yes," Rosalie smiled happily, "Ogle your beauty while I get ready."

Finally, finally, Kyleigh opened the door that held the full length mirror and gasped at her reflection; it had taken four hours, but Rosalie had managed to turn Kyleigh into a goddess. Her auburn hair had been curled into loose waves then Rosalie had pulled it into a haphazard (but bobby pinned to the extreme) bun with curls framing her face and a few brushing her neck. Make up had been subtle since vampires really didn't need to wear cover up or anything, so Rosalie had just made Kyleigh's eyelashes extremely long and extremely curled and brushed a light, shimmery powder over her cheek bones.

Then the dress; Kyleigh had described in loose detail her ideal dress and a week later, Esme left a huge box on her head. When Kyleigh had pulled the gown out of the box, she couldn't believe her eyes because it was exactly what she'd pictured. Strapless, all lace, simple, floor length and absolutely beautiful. Esme refused to say where she'd gotten it from or how much it had cost, just saying to consider it a wedding present.

Kyleigh jumped when a knock came at the door and Esme poked her head in, "Hi Esme," Kyleigh grinned at her mother.

"Oh…Kyleigh," Esme put a hand against her heart, "Sweetheart, you're beautiful."

Kyleigh beamed, "Thank you. It was all Rosalie."

"Shut up," the blonde laughed, coming back into the room wearing the deep red gown she (as the only bridesmaid) had chosen for herself, "It wasn't that hard."

"You look pretty as well, dear," Esme told her other dauther.

"Eh," she shrugged, "It's about Kyleigh today, not me."

Esme nodded approvingly, "Well, I will go get Carlisle and we can get started, okay?"

After she had left, Rosalie turned back to Kyleigh and handed her a box.

"What's this?" Kyleigh asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Something old and borrowed. The dress is something new."

"…where's the blue going to come from?"

"Oh crap," Rosalie muttered, "Well put that on and I can figure something out."

Kyleigh opened the box and pulled out a strand of pearls, "Rose, these are gorgeous!"

"I know, aren't they? I figured you could borrow them for the night," Rosalie reached over without being asked and clipped them on, "Now, we need something blue."

"Does nail polish count?" Kyleigh asked.

"What?" Rosalie looked at her incredulously.

Kyleigh pointed to her toes, "Blue."

Rosalie rolled her eyes, "Sure, I guess that can count."

"Then I am ready!" Kyleigh sang.

"Good!" Carlisle sang back, appearing in the doorway, "Come on little one, time to go." He held out an arm to her, which she happily took then grabbed the single red rose Rosalie handed her.

"You look amazing," Carlisle murmured as they walked to the stairs. They were having the wedding in the living room because it was snowing outside; Rosalie and Esme had decked everything out with Christmas lights and wreaths and bells due to the Christmas Eve wedding.

"Thanks," Kyleigh smiled, eyeing the winding stairs unhappily.

"It'll be fine, we'll move slowly," He assured her as she tightened her grip on his arm. She squared her small shoulders then she and Carlisle walk down the stairs, closer to Jasper with each step.

The ceremony was short and simple; Rosalie and Emmet comprised the bridal parties and Carlisle doubled as the justice of the peace. Kyleigh and Jasper agreed to keep their vows to 3 lines maximum. Esme beamed the entire time while Emmet tried to look disgusted. (Although he also at one point pulled Kyleigh aside and said he was happy that she was finally family and that she looked pretty)

Kyleigh was the happiest after the ceremony and the after party were over and she'd changed into her favorite jeans and one of Jasper's shirts. Jasper and Kyleigh decided to start their honeymoon in Scotland then make their way to Esme's Island. She grinned at Jasper when he slid into the driver's seat and kissed her cheek. After he'd put the car in gear, she reached over and took his hand, squeezing it gently.

"So Mrs. Whitlock Hale, shall we?"

"I don't know," she tried to keep her voice serious, "I mean, I love you and all, but maybe this was a bad idea."

"Oh really?" He pretended to believe her, "And why is that?"

"Your appeal has waned in lieu of the wedding; the passions just dead," she shrugged, trying to look sad.

Jasper watched her face for a few minutes then threw his head life, "Oh darling, you're mean," then he back out of the driveway, still holding her hand the whole time.

**I'm so sad! But I've had the end in mind for awhile. I hope that someday I can write another Jackson story (to be honest, I use Kyleigh in many of my stories so she's old hat to me), but anyway, that's all I can do for now. Here are pictures, by the way:**

**Dress: .com/files/2010/09/36/4/1090/10904896/e26800950eb84a01_**

**Ring: .com/celebrity-engagement-ring-katie-holmes-replica/3186/**

**So my dear readers, thank you for all of the reviews and support throughout this story, I truly appreciate it. Peace. **


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